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C A T T L E._ 



W. YOUATT.^ si. 



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*~ W. C. L. MARTIN, 

i > 



BEING A TREATISE ON THEIR 



BREEDS, MANAGEMENT, AND DISEASES, 

COMPRISING A 

FULL HISTORY OF THE VARIOUS RACES; 

THEIR ORIGIN, BREEDING, AND MERITS J THEIR CAPACITY FOR BEEF AND 
MILK J THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF THEIR DISEASES ; 

THE WHOLE FORMING A COMPLETE GUIDE 

FOB THE 

FARMER, THE AMATEUR, AND VETERINARY SURGEON, 

WITH 100 ILLUSTRATIONS. 



EDITED BY A. STEVENS. 



NEW-YORK: 

C. M. SAXTON, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER, 
1851. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

C. M. SAXTON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York 



EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER, 
114 Xassan-street, New- York. 






PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



In presenting an edition of Youatt to the American public, the 
American editor may justly say, that, of all the treatises on cattle, 
none is so valuable as his. Mr. Youatt was a man of rare ability ; 
a scholar, distinguished for the extent, variety, and elegance of his 
attainments ; for his power of research, historical, and scientific ; for 
the brilliancy of his style ; and as a veterinary surgeon of profound 
knowledge, in both the science and practice of his art, and of devotion 
to its pursuit. Scarcely any man of all the world was so happily 
fitted as he, to produce a great historical and medical work on 
cattle. 

And while he was so peculiarly qualified to write such a work, 
the circumstances that originated it were eminently the ones to 
insure him success in the undertaking. An association existed in 
England, under the name of The Society for the diffusion of 
useful Knowledge. Men of eminence in every variety of learning 
were its members ; the publication of practical treatises in all depart- 
ments of useful knowledge, its object. Appreciating the ability of 
Mr. Youatt to give the world a valuable work on the history, breeds, 
management, and diseases of cattle, this Society enlisted him in its 
production. 

In preparing this treatise for publication, the American editor has 
abridged it of the history of local and inferior breeds of cattle in 
England, in which the American farmer and amateur has no interest. 
There is not a page in the whole, but has been carefully considered, 
and, where it required, its matter advanced to the present state of 



iv PREFACE. 

knowledge on the subject. In doing this, many works on the 
subject, published since Mr. Youatt's, have been examined. The 
chief of these is, The Ox, by Mr. W. C. L. Martin, one of the 
officers of the London Zoological Society. 

The editor has consulted three recent German treatises on the 
diseases of cattle. The most valuable of these is by Gunther, who 
has applied homoeopathy to animals. In addition to the ordinary 
modes of practice, the editor has given the treatment of Gunther. 
It is within his knowledge, that the prescriptions of homoeopathy 
have been eminently successful in the diseases of both horses and 
cattle. This method of managing their diseases will be valuable to 
those who adopt the school of Hahnemann, while it detracts nothing 
from the work as a manual of ordinary veterinary practice. 

Thousands of copies of Youatt and Martin are annually sold in 
England, and, there, opinion has established them as standards in their 
branch of knowledge. This American edition commends itself by 
its small price, and its intrinsic value, and should sell in thousands. 

Great credit is due to the American publisher, for giving to the 
public this edition, beautiful alike for its embellishment and its 
typography. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Preface .......... 3 

Chapter I. — The Natural History of the Ox — His Zoological character — 
domesticated before the Flood . ..... 9 

Chapter II. — The British Ox. — No satisfactory description of cattle by early 
writers — in the feudal times — occasional wild cattle — those of Chillingham Park 
— Present cattle classed according to the size of their horns — the middle-horns 
probably the original breed — they are found where the natives retreated from 
their invaders — essentially the same wherever found . . . .11 

Chapter III. — The Middle-horns. — The Devons — The proper form and shape 
of cattle — the Devons tried by this test — the Devon bull — the Devon cow — the 
working properties of the Devon ox — his disposition to fatten — value of the cow 
for the dairy — attempted crosses — the vale of Exeier — South Devon cattle — 
Somersetshire cattle — pure Devons on the borders of Devon — gradual change 
of character — the present cattle — The Herefords— description of them — com- 
parison between them and the Devons — fattening properties — Sussex cattle — 
description — comparison with Devons and Herefords— Sussex cow — West Sus- 
sex cattle — Wales — general character of the Welsh cattle — Pemrrokes — 
Glamorgan — former character of them — present breed — late improvement — 
Anglesey cattle — Scotland — the West Highland cattle — the Hebribes— 
Description of the true Kyloe — Hebridean management — The outer Hebrides — 
the tacksman — Argyleshire — the cattle — rearing — Cantire — the Shetland- 
ers — description — management — Aberdeen — description of the cattle — the 
Kintore ox — Ayrshire — present state — cattle — opinions of their origin — their 
value as dairy-cows — produce — profit — fattening properties of the Ayrshires — 
management . . . . . . . . .15 

Chapter IV. — Polled Cattle. — Galloways — Description of the Galloways — 
general excellence of the Galloways — comparisons between the feeding qualities 
of Devons and Scots — Angus — the polled cattle — comparison between them and 
the Galloways — Norfolk — the original breed horned — source of the present 
breed — Suffolk — description — extraordinary instances of produce . . 63 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter V r . — The Irish Cattle. — The aboriginal breed middle-horns — the 
Kerry Cow — the prevailing breed were probably the Cravens — Improvement 
slower in Ireland than in England — Mr. Waller's improvements in Meath — 
Lord Masserene — Lord Farnham — the Earl of Rosse — Sir H. V. Tempest . 77 

Chapter VI. — The Long-horns. — Originally from Craven — the larger and 
smaller breed — early improvers — the blacksmith of Linton — Sir Thomas Gres- 
ley — Mr. Webster — Bloxedge — Robert Bakewell — his principles — his success — 
anecdotes — Twopenny — Mr. Fowler— Shakspeare — Description of D — Mr. Fow- 
ler's sale — Mr. Prinsep — Description of the Improved Leicesters — strangely 
rapid deterioration and disappearance of them — Derbyshire — description of 
cattle— Shropshire — the old Shopshires — the present breed . . .81 

Chapter VII. — The Short-horns. — Description of the old breed — Sir W. St. 
Quintin — Mr. Milbauk — Mr. C. Colling — history of his purchase of Hubback 
— Favorite — the Durham ox — cross with the polled Galloway — Bolingbroke — ■ 
Johanna — Lady — prices fetched by Lady's progeny — sale of Mr. C. Colling's 
stock— Mr. Charge of Newton— Mr. Mason of Chilton— Mr. G. Coates's 
Short-Horn Herd-Book — history of remarkable short-horns — the milking pro- 
perties of the improved short-horn undervalued— not calculated for work — cor- 

' rections of Berry— his two histories of Short-horns — Dutch cattle not imported 
— Dobison — Bailey — Culley — law against importation — Short-horns not crossed 
with white wild cattle — C. Colling not exclusive improver of Short-horns — 
Colling increased the size of his cattle — Hubback had no Dutch blood— an 
account of him — Galloway crosses or alloy — made by chance — R. Colling. 
The improved Yorkshire cow — she unites the two qualities— quantities of 
milk yielded by her — description of her — Yorkshire— North Riding once 
occupied by black cattle alone — succeeded by the old Holderness— crossed with 
the improved breed — West Riding — Mr. Mitton's Badsworth — Lincolnshire 
— the unimproved Lincolns — the present improved Lincolns — the Lincolnshire 
ox . . . . . . . . . . .95 

Chapter VIII.— The Foreign Breeds of Cattle. — The Alderney— quantity 
and excellence of milk — fattens readily — Nagore cattle .... 138 

Chapter IX.— The Structure and Diseases of the Head of the Ox. — The 
skeleton — the head — shortness and breadth of forehead in the bull — fine small 
head in the female — extent of frontal sinuses — inflammation of them — the horns 
— their growth — treatment of fracture of them — age as indicated by the horns 
— the distinguishing character of the different breeds — influence of sex — horned 
Galloways — comparison between the horned and hornless cattle — The brain — 
peculiar conformation of the brain and spinal marrow — The ear — difference of 
in different cattle — diseases of — The eye — fracture of the orbit — wounds, tumors 
— The eyelids — eruptions on them— enlargement of haw — inflammation of the 
eye— cataract— cutta serena — cancer — Fracture of the skull— Hydatids in the 
brain — water in the head — apoplexy— inflammation of the brain — locked jaw- 
epilepsy — palsy — neurotomy — madness . ... 142 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter X. — The Anatomy, Uses, and Diseases, of the Nostrils and 

Mouth.— The nasal bones — sense of smelling acute — bleeding from the nose 

leeches in it— polypus— coryza— glanders— farcy— The bones of the mouth— the 
lips — the bars of the mouth — the pad in the upper jaw — the teeth — the age 
indicated by them — the tongue — the os hyoides — gloss-anthrax or blain — thrush 
in the mouth — the glands and blood-vessels of the neck — the parotid gland — 
barbs or paps — the soft palate — the pharynx ..... 179 



Chapter XI. — Anatomy and Diseases of the Neck and Chest. — The muscles 
of the neck and chest — the crest of the bull — form and size of the neck — arteries 
of the neck — bleeding — bleeding places — the milk-vein with reference to bleed- 
ing — The heart — inflammation of its bag — the bone of the heart — the pulse — 
the capillary vessels — inflammation — Fever — inflammatory fever — quarter-evil 
— black quarter — typhus fever — The veins — varicose veins — The structure and 
form of the chest — the brisket — indications of its different forms — The ribs — 
proper form and direction of — the spine — the larynx — the round curled form of 
the epiglottis — the windpipe — tracheotomy — the sweetbread — the bronchial 
tubes — catarrh or hoose — epidemic catarrh — the malignant epidemic — murrain 
— epidemic sore mouth and feet of 1840 — sore throat — inflammation of the pha- 
rynx — puncturing the pharynx — bronchitis — multitude of worms often found in 
the air-passages — inflammation of the lungs — acute pneumonia — epidemic ditto 
— pleurisy — chronic pleurisy — consumption — importance of recognizing the 
peculiar cough of consumption ....... 208 

Chapter XII — The Structure and Diseases of the Gullet and Stomach. 
— The peculiar structure of the gullet of ruminants — choking — the oesophagus- 
probang — stricture of the gullet — rupture of ditto — the cesophagean canal — the 
rumen or paunch — the reticulum or honeycomb — the manyplus or manifolds — 
the abomasum or fourth stomach — the cesophagean canal continued — the mus- 
cular pillars of its floor — they yield to a solid substance — circumstances under 
which fluids pass over them into the third and fourth stomachs, or between 
them into the rumen — the food macerated in the rumen — passes through all the 
compartments of it — thrown into the reticulum — its honeycomb structure — the 
pellet formed — forced into the cesophagean canal — re-ascends the gullet — remas- 
ticated — returned — passes along the canal into the manyplus — the leaves of the 
manyplus— the fibrous parts of the food— indigestible substances in the paunch 
— concretions in ditto — distension of the rumen from food— ditto from gas — 
hoove — the stomach pump — the chloride of lime — loss of cud — poisons — yew — 
corrosive sublimate — diseases of the reticulum — diseases of the manifolds— clew- 
bound — fardel-bound— malformation of manyplus — diseases of the fourth 
stomach .......... 278 

Chapter XIII. — The Anatomy and Diseases of the Spleen, Liver, and 
Pancreas.— Anatomy and function of the spleen — inflammation of it — enlarge- 
ment—The liver — iuSammation of it — haemorrhage— jaundice or yellows — The 
pancreas .......... 319 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter XIV. — The Anatomy and Diseases of the Intestines. — The duode- 
num — jejunum — ileum — caecum — colon — rectum — enlargement of the mesenteric 
glands — inflammation of the bowels- -wood-evil — moor-ill — diarrhoea — dysentery 
— colic — strangulation — the cords or gut-tie — introsusception — inversion of the 
rectum — constipation — calculi— worms — dropsy — hernia or rupture . . 329 

Chapter XV. — The Urinary Organs and their Diseases. — The kidneys— red 
water — black water — inflammation of the kidneys — the ureters — the bladder — 
urinary calculi— stone in the kidney— ureters—bladder— urethra— rupture of the 
bladder — inversion of ditto ...... 366 

Chapter XVI. — Parturition. — Abortion or slinking — symptoms of pregnancy — 
treatment before calving — natural labor — the ergot of rye — mechanical assist- 
ance — unnatural presentation — free-martins — the Caesarian operation — embry- 
otomy — inversion of the womb — rupture of ditto — protrusion of the bladder — 
retention of the foetus — attention after calving — the cleansing — flooding — 
dropping after calving — puerperal or milk fever— sore teats— garget — milk- 
sickness or trembles — cow-pox ....... 382 

Chapter XVII. — The Diseases and Management of Calves. — Navel-ill — cor»- 
stipation — diarrhoea — hoove — castration— method of castration by torsion . 422 

Chapter XVIII.— The Diseases of the Muscular System and the Extrem- 
ities.— Rheumatism— swellings of the joints— ulcers about the joints— opened 
joints— sprains— diseases of the feet — foul in the feet .... 428 

Chapter XIX.— The Diseases of the Skin.— Structure of the skin— sensible 
and insensible perspiration — hide-bound— mange— mad itch — lice— warbles — 
angle-berries — warts ••...... 438 

Chapter XX. — A List of the Medicines Used in the Treatment of the 
Diseases of Cattle — iEthiop's mineral — aloes — alteratives — alum — ammonia 
— anodynes— antimonial powder — blue vitriol— butyr of antimony — antispas- 
modics — astringents — blisters— calamine — Colombo — calomel — camphor — can- 

tharides — carraways — castor oil — catechu — caustics — chalk — chamomile 

charges — chloride of lime — clysters— cordials — corrosive sublimate — croton — 
diaphoretics— digitalis— diuretics— drinks— elder— emetic tartar — Epsom salts 
—fomentations — gentian — ginger — Glauber's salts— Goulard's extract— helle- 
bore, black — iodine — ipecacuanha — laudanum — linseed — linseed oil — 1 unar 
caustic — mashes — mercurial ointment — mint — myrrh — nitre — pitch — poultices 
— ergot of rye — common salt — setons — spirit of nitrous ether — spirit, rectified 
— sugar of lead — sulphur — tar — tonics — turpentine, common — turpentine, spirit 
of— vinegar — white lead— white vitriol ...... 447 



CHAPTER I. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OX. 



The Ox belongs to the class mammalia, animals having mammae, 
or teats ; the order ruminantia, ruminating, or chewing their food 
a second time ; the tribe bovidm, the ox kind ; the genus bos, the 
ox, the horns occupying the crest, projecting at first sideways, and 
being porous or cellular within ; and the sub-genus bos taurus, or 
the domestic ox. 

Distinguished according to their teeth, they have eight incisors, or 
cutting teeth, in the lower jaw, and none in the upper. They have 
no tusks, but they have six molars, or grinding teeth, in each jaw, 
and on each side. 

The whole would, therefore, be represented as follows : — 

The ox, incisors f, canines ^, molars f-f. Total, 32 teeth. 

The native country of the ox, reckoning from the time of the flood, 
was the plains of Ararat, and he was a domesticated animal when he 
issued from the ark. He was found wherever the sons of Noah 
migrated, for he was necessar) 7 to the existence of man ; and even to 
the present day, wherever man has trodden, he is found in a domes- 
ticated or wild state. The earliest record we have of the ox is in the 
sacred volume. Even in the antediluvian age, soon after the expul- 
sion from Eden, the sheep had become the servant of man ; and it 
is not improbable that the ox was subjugated at the same time. It 
is recorded that Jubal, the son of Lamech, who was probably born 
during the life-time of Adam, was the father of such as have cattle. 

The records of profane history confirm this account of the early 
domestication and acknowledged value of this animal, for it was wor- 
shipped by the Egyptians, and venerated among the Indians. The 
traditions of every Celtic nation enroll the cow among the earliest 
productions, and represent it as a kind of divinity. 
1* 



10 CATTLE. 

The parent race of the ox is said to have been much larger than 
any of the present varieties. The Urus, in his wild state at least, 
was an enormous and fierce animal, and ancient legends have thrown 
around him an air of mystery. In almost every part of the Con- 
tinent, and in every district of England, skulls, evidently belonging to 
cattle, have been found, far exceeding in bulk any now known. 
There is a fine specimen in the British Museum : the peculiarity of 
the horns will be observed, resembling smaller ones dug up in the 
mines of Cornwall, preserved, in some degree, in the wild cattle of 
Chillingham Park, and not quite lost in our native breeds of Devon 
and East Sussex, and those of the Welsh mountains and the High- 
lands. We believe that this referred more to individuals than to the 
breed generally, for there is no doubt that, within the last century, 
the size of the cattle has progressively increased in England, and kept 
pace with the improvement of agriculture. 

We will not endeavor to follow the migrations of the ox from 
Western Asia, nor the change in size, and form, and value, which it 
underwent, according to the difference of climate and of pasture, as 
it journeyed on toward the west, for there are no records of this on 
which dependence can be placed ; but we will proceed to the subject 
of the present work, the British Ox. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE BRITISH OX. 

In the earliest and most authentic account that we possess of the 
British Tsles, the Commentaries of Csesar, we learn that the Britons 
possessed great numbers of cattle. No satisfactory description of 
these cattle occurs in any ancient author ; but they, with occasional 
exceptions, possessed no great bulk or beauty. 

Ceesar tells us that the Britons neglected tillage, and lived on milk 
and flesh * and other authors corroborate this account of the early 
inhabitants of the British Islands. It was that occupation and mode 
of life which suited their state of society. The island was divided 
into many petty sovereignties ; no fixed property was secure ; and 
that alone was valuable whicli might be hurried away at the threat- 
ened approach of an invader. Many centuries after this, when, 
although one sovereign seemed to reign paramount over the whole of 
the kingdom, there continued to be endless contests among the feudal 
barons, and still that property alone was valuable whicli could be 
secured within the walls of the castle, or driven beyond the invader's 
reach ; an immense stock of provisions was always stored up in the 
various fortresses, both for the vassals and the cattle ; or it was con- 
trived that the latter should be driven to the demesnes of some 
friendly baron, or concealed in some inland recess. 

When the government became more powerful and settled, and 
property of every kind was proportionably secured, as well as more 
equally divided, the plough came into use ; and agricultural produc- 
tions were oftener cultivated, the reaping of which was sure after the 
labor of sowing. Cattle were now comparatively neglected, and, for 
some centuries, injuriously so. Their numbers diminished, and their 
size appears to have diminished, too ; and it is only within the last 
150 years that any serious and successful efforts have been made 
materially to improve them. 

In the comparative roving and uncertain life which our earlier and 
later ancestors led, their cattle would sometimes stray and be lost. 
The country was then overgrown with forests, and the beasts betook 
themselves to the recesses of these woods, and became wild, and 
sometimes ferocious. They, by degrees, grew so numerous, as to be 



12 CATTLE. 

dano-erous to the inhabitants of the neighboring districts. One of 
the chronicles informs us, that many of them harbored in the forests 
in the neighborhood of the metropolis. Strange stories are told of some 
of them, and doubtless, when irritated, they were fierce and dangerous 
enough. As, however, civilization advanced, and the forests became 
thinned and contracted, these animals were seldomer seen, and at 
length almost disappeared. A few of them yet remain in Chatel- 
herault Park, belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, in Lanarkshire ; 
and in the park of Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, the seat 
of the Earl of Tankerville. 

The wild breed, from being untameable, can only be kept within 
walls, or good fences ; consequently, very few of them are now to be 
met with, except in the parks of some gentlemen, who keep them for 
ornament,. and as a curiosity. Their color is invariably white, muzzle 
black ; the whole of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the 
outside, from the tips downward, red ; horns, white, with black tips, 
very fine, and bent upward ; some of the bulls have a thin, upright 
mane, about an inch and a half or two inches long. The weight of 
the oxen is from thirty-five to forty -five stone, and the cows from 
twenty-five to thirty-five stone the four quarters (fourteen pound to 
the stone). The beef is finely marbled, and of excellent flavor. The 
six year old oxen are generally very good beef ; whence it may be 
fairly supposed that, in proper situations, they would feed well. 

At the first appearance of any person, they set off in full gallop, 
and, at the distance of about two hundred yards, make a wheel 
round, and come boldly up again in a menacing manner ; on a sud- 
den they make a full stop at the distance of forty or fifty yards, look- 
ing wildly at the object of their surprise ; but upon the least motion 
they all again turn round, and fly off with equal speed, but not to 
the same distance, forming a shorter circle, and again returning with 
a more threatening aspect than before ; they approach probably 
within thirty yards, when they again make another stand, and then 
fly off ; this they do several times, shortening their distance, and 
advancing nearer and nearer, till they come within such a short dis- 
tance that most people think it prudent to leave them. 

When the cows calve, they hide their calves for a week or ten 
days in some sequestered situation, and go and suckle them two or 
three times a day. If any person come near the calves, they clap 
their heads close to the ground, to hide themselves : this is a proof 
of their native wildness. 

The dams allow no person to touch their calves, without attacking 
them with impetuous ferocity. When any one happens to be 
wounded, or is grown weak and feeble through age or sickness, the 
rest of the herd set on it and gore it to death. 

The breeds of cattle, as they are now found in Great Britain, are 
almost as various as the soil of the different districts, or the fancies 



THE BRITISH OX. 13 



of the breeders. They have, however, been very conveniently 
classed according to the comparative size of the horns ; the long 
horns, originally from Lancashire, much improved by Mr. Bakewell, 
of Leicestershire, and established through the greater part of the 
midland counties ; the short horns, mostly cultivated in the northern 
counties, and in Lincolnshire, and many of them found in every part 
of the kingdom where the farmer attends much to his dairy, or a 
large supply of milk is wanted ; and the middle horns, not derived 
from a mixture of the two preceding, but a distinct and valuable 
and beautiful breed, inhabiting principally the north of Devon, the east 
of Sussex, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire; and, of diminished bulk, 
and with somewhat different character, the cattle of the Scottish and 
the Welsh mountains. The Alderney, with her crumpled horn, is 
found on the southern cost, and, in smaller numbers, in gentlemen's 
parks and pleasure-grounds every where ; while the polled, or horn- 
less cattle, prevail in Suffolk, and Norfolk, and in Galloway, whence 
they were first derived. 

These, however, have been intermingled in every possible way. 
They are found pure only in their native districts, or on the estates 
of some opulent and spirited individuals. Each county has its own 
mongrel breed, often difficult to be described, and not always to be 
traced — neglected enough, yet suited to the soil and to the climate ; 
and, among little farmers, maintaining their station, in spile of at- 
tempts at improvements by the intermixture or the substitution of 
foreign varieties. 

The character of each important variety, and the relative value of 
each for breeding, grazing, the dairy, or the plough, will be consi- 
dered before we inquire into the structure or general and medical 
treatment of cattle. Much dispute has arisen as to the original breed 
of British cattle. The battle has been stoutly fought between the 
advocates of the middle and the long horns. The short horns and 
the polls can have no claim ; the latter, although it has existed in 
certain districts from time immemorial, was probably an accidental 
variety, 

We are very much disposed to adjudge the honor to the " middle 
horns." The long horns are evidently of Irish extraction, as in due 
place we shall endeavor to show. 

Britain has shared the fate of other nations, and oftener than they, 
has been overrun and subjugated by invaders. As the natives re- 
treated, they carried with them some portion of their property, 
which, in those early times, consisted principally in cattle. They 
drove along with them as many as they could, when they retired to 
the fortresses of north Devon and Cornwall, or the mountainous re- 
gions of Wales, or when they took refuge in the wealds of east Sus- 
sex ; and there, retaining all their prejudices, customs and manners, 



14 CATTLE. 

were jealous of the preservation of that which reminded them of 
their native country before it yielded to a foreign yoke. 

In this manner was preserved the ancient breed of British cattle. 
Difference of climate wrought some change, particularly in their 
bulk. The rich pasture of Sussex fattened the ox into its superior 
size and weight. The plentiful, but not so luxuriant herbage of the 
north of Devon, produced a smaller and more active animal, while 
the privations of Wales lessened the bulk and thickened the hide of 
the Welsh runt. As for Scotland, it set its invaders at defiance ; or 
its inhabitants retreated for a while, and soon turned again on their 
pursuers. They were proud of their country, of their cattle, their 
choicest possession ; and there, too, the cattle were preserved, un- 
mixed and undegenerated. 

Thence it resulted, that in Devon, in Sussex, in Wales, and in 
Scotland, the cattle have been the same from time immemorial ; 
while in all the eastern coast, and through every district of England, 
the breed of cattle degenerated, or lost its original character ; it 
consisted of animals brought from every neighboring and some re- 
mote districts, mingled in every possible variety, yet conforming 
itself to the soil and the climate. 

Observations will convince us that the cattle in Devonshire, Sus- 
sex, Wales, and Scotland, are essentially the same. They are middle 
horned ; not extraordinary milkers, and remarkably for the quality 
rather than the quantity of their milk ; active at work ; and with an 
unequalled aptitude to fatten. They have all the characters of the 
same breed, changed by soil, climate, and time, yet little changed by 
man. We may almost trace the color, namely, the red of the Devon, 
the Sussex, and the Hereford ; and where the black alone are now 
found, the memory of the red prevails. Every one who has com- 
pared the Devon cattle with the wild breed of Chatelherault park, or 
Chillingham castle, has been struck with the great resemblance in 
many points, notwithstanding the difference of color, while they bear 
no likeness at all to the cattle of the neighboring country. 

For these reasons we consider the middle horns to be the native 
breed of Great Britain, and they shall first pass in review before us. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE MIDDLE HORNS. 

THE DEVONS. 

The north of Devon has been long celebrated for a breed of cattle 
beautiful in the highest degree, and in- activity at work and aptitude 
to fatten unrivalled. The native country of the Devons, and where 
they are found in a state of the greatest purity, extends from the 
river Taw westward, skirting along the Bristol Channel ; the breed 
becoming more mixed, and at length comparatively lost before we ar- 
rive at the Parrett. Inland it extends by Barnstaple, South Molton, 
and Chumleiffh, as far as Tiverton, and thence to Wellington, where 
again the breed becomes unfrequent, or it is mixed before we reach 
Taunton. More eastward the Somersets and the Welsh mingle with 
it, or supersede it. To the south there prevails a larger variety, a cross 
probably of the Devon with the Somerset ; and on the west the 
Cornish cattle are found, or contaminate the breed. The Devonshire 
man confines them within a narrower district, and will scarcely allow 
them to be found with purity beyond his native county. From Port- 
lock to Biddeford, and a little to the north and the south, is, in his 
mind, the peculiar and only residence of the true Devon. 

From the earliest records the breed has here remained the same ; 
or if not quite as perfect as at the present moment, yet altered in no 
essential point until within the last thirty years. That is not a little 
surprising when it is remembered that a considerable part of this 
district is not a breeding country, and that even a proportion, and 
that not a small one, of Devonshire cattle, are bred out of the county. 
On the borders of Somerset and Dorset, and partly in both, extend- 
ing southward from Crewkern, the country assumes the form of an 
extensive valley, and principally supplies the Exeter market with 
calves. Those that are dropped in February and March, are kept 
until May, and then sold to the drovers, who convey them to Exeter. 
They are there purchased by the Devonshire farmers, who keep 
them for two or three years, when they are sold to the Somersetshire 
graziers, who fatten them for the London market ; so that a portion 
of the Devons, and of the very finest of the breed, come from Somer- 
set and Dorset. 



16 CATTLE. 

The truth is, that the Devonshire farmers were, until the last cen- 
tury, not conscious that they possessed anything superior to other 
breeds ; but, like agriculturists everywhere else, they bought and 
bred without c;ire or selection. It is only within the last one hundred 
and fifty or sixty years that any systematic efforts have been made 
to improve the breeds of cattle of the kingdom ; and we must ac- 
knowledge, that the Devonshire men, with all their advantages, and 
with such good ground to work upon, were not the first to stir, and, 
for a time, were not the most zealous when they were roused to ex- 
ertion. They are indebted to the nature of their soil and climate for 
the beautiful specimens which they possess of the native breed of 
our island, and they have retained this breed almost in spite of 
themselves. 

A spirit of emulation was at length kindled, and even the Devons 
have been materially improved, and brought to such a degree of 
perfection, that, take them all in all, they would suffer from inter- 
mixture with any other breed. 

Whatever be the breed, there are certain conformations which are 
indispensable to the thriving and valuable ox or cow. When we have 
a clear idea of these, we shall be able more easily to form an ac- 
curate judgment of the different breeds. If there is one part of the 
frame, the form of which, more than of any other, renders the animal 
valuable, it is the chest. There must be room enough for the heart 
to beat, and the lungs to play, or sufficient blood for the purposes of 
nutriment and of strength will not be circulated ; nor will it thorough- 
ly undergo that vital change which is essential to the proper discharge 
of every function. We look, therefore, first of all to the wide and 
deep girth about the heart and lungs. We must have both : the 
proportion in which the one or the other may preponderate, will de- 
pend on the service we require from the animal ; we can excuse a 
slight degree of flatness on the sides, for he will be lighter in the 
forehand, and more active ; but the grazier must have width as well 
as depth. Not only about the heart and lungs, but over the whole of 
the ribs, must we have both length and roundness; the hooped, as 
well as the deep barrel is essential ; there must be room for the capa- 
cious jiaunch, room for the materials from which the blood is to be 
provided. There should belittle space between the ribs and the hips. 
This seems to be indispensable in the ox, as it regards a good healthy 
constitution, and a propensity to fatten ; but a hugeness and droop- 
ing of the belly is excusable in the cow, or rather, though it diminishes 
the beauty of the animal, it leaves room for the udder ; and if it is 
also accompanied by swelling milk veins, it generally indicates her 
value in the dairy. 

This roundness and depth of the barrel, is most advantangeous in 
proportion as it is found behind the point of the elbow, more than 
between the shoulders and legs; or low down between the legs. 



THE DEVONS. 



rather than upward toward the withers : for it diminishes the heaviness 
before, and the comparative bulk of the coarser parts of the animal, 
which is always a very great consideration. 

The loins should be wide, for they are the prime parts ; they 
should extend far along the back : and although the belly should not 
hang down, the flanks should be round and deep. The hips, without 
being ragged, should be large ; round rather than wide, and present- 
ing, when handled, plenty of muscle and fat The thighs should be 
full and long, close together when viewed from behind, or have a 
good twist, and the farther down they continue close the better. 
The legs short, varying like other parts according to the destina- 
tion of the animal ; but decidedly short, for there is an almost inse- 
parable connection between length of leg and lightness of carcass, 
and shortness of leg and propensity to fatten. The bones of the 
legs, and they only, being taken as a sample of the bony structure of 
the frame, generally, should be small, but not too small — small enough 
for the well-known accompaniment, a propensity to fatten ; but not 
so small as to indicate delicacy of constitution, and liability to disease. 

Last of all, the hide — the most important thing of all — thin, but 
not so thin as to indicate that the animal can endure no hardship ; 
movable, mellow, but not too loose, and particularly well covered 
with fine long and soft hair. We shall enter more fully and satisfac- 
torily into this subject in the proper place ; but this bird's-eye view 
may be useful. We return to the Devon cattle. * 




DEVON BULL. 



IS 



CATTLE. 



The more perfect specimens of the Devon breed are thus distin- 
guished. The horn of the bull ought to be neither too low nor too 
high, tapering at the points, not too thick at the root, white below, 
and of a yellow or waxy color at the tip. The eye should be clear, 
bright, and prominent, showing much of the white, and have around 
it a circle of a dark orange color. The forehead should be flat, in- 
dented, and small, for, by the smallness of the forehead, the purity 
of the breed is very much estimated. The cheek should be small, 
and the muzzle fine : the nose must be of a clear yellow. The nos- 
tril should be high and open : the hair curled about the head. The 
neck should be thick, and that sometimes almost to a fault. 

Excepting in the head and neck, the form of the bull does not 
materially differ from that of the ox, but he is considerably smaller. 
There are exceptions, however, to this rule. 




WORKING DEVON OX. 



The head of the ox is small, very singularly so, relatively to his 
bulk ; yet it has a striking breadth of forehead, It is clean and free 
from flesh about the jaws. The eye is very prominent, and the ani- 
mal has a pleasing vivacity of countenance, distinguishing it from 
the heavy aspect of many other breeds. Its neck is long and thin, 
admirably adapting it for the collar, or the more common and ruder 
yoke. 

It is accounted one of the characters of good cattle, that the line 
of the neck from the horns to the withers should scarcely deviate 



THE DEVON S. 19 



from that of the back. In the Devon ox, however, there is a pecu- 
liar rising of the forehand, reminding us of the blood-horse, and 
essentially connected with the free and quick action by which this 
breed has ever been distinguished. It has little or no dewlap 
depending from its throat. The horns are longer than those of the 
bull, smaller, and fine even to the base, and of a lighter color, and 
tipped with yellow. The animal is light in the withers ; the shoulders 
a little oblique ; the breast deep, and the bosom open and wide, par- 
ticularly as contrasted with the fineness of the withers. The fore- 
legs are wide apart, looking like pillars that have to support a great 
weight. The point of the shoulder is rarely or never seen. There is 
no projection of bone, but there is a kind of level line running on to 
the neck. 

These are characteristic and important points. Angular bony pro- 
jections are never found in a beast that carries much flesh and fat. 
The fineness of the withers, the slanting direction of the shoulder, and 
the broad and open breast, imply strength, speed, and aptitude to 
fatten. A narrow-chested animal can never be useful either for 
working or grazing. 

With all the lightness of the Devon ox, there is a point about him, 
disliked in the blood or riding-horse, and not approved in the horse 
of light draught — the legs are far under the chest, or rather the 
breast projects far and wide before the legs. We see the advantage 
of this in the beast of slow draught, who rarely breaks into a trot, ex- 
cept when he is goaded on in catching times, and the division of 
whose foot secures him from stumbling. The lightness of the other 
parts of his form, however, counterbalances heaviness here. 

The legs are straight, at least in the best herds. If they are in- 
kneed, or crooked in the fore-legs, it argues a deficiency in blood, and 
comparative incapacity for work ; and for grazing, too, for they will 
be hollow behind the withers, a point for which nothing can compen- 
sate, because it takes away so much from the place where good flesh 
and fat 'should be thickly laid on, and diminishes the capacity of the 
chest and the power of creating arterial and nutritious blood. 

The fore-arm is particularly large and powerful. It swells out 
suddenly above the knee, but is soon lost in the substance of the 
shoulder. Below the knee, the bone is small to a very extraordinary 
degree, indicatino- a seemino- want of strength ; but this impression 
immediately ceases, for the smallness is only in front — it is only in 
the bone : the leg is deep, and the sinews are far removed from the 
bone, promising both strength and speed. It may perhaps be 
objected that the leg is a little too long. It would be so in an ani- 
mal destined only to graze ; but this is a working animal, and some 
length of leg is necessary to get him actively over the ground. 

There is a very trifling fall behind the withers, but no kollowness, 
and the line of the back is straight from them to the setting on of the 



20 CATTLE. 

tail. If there is any seeming fault in the beast, it is that the sides 
are a little too fiat. It will appear, however, that this does not in- 
terfere with feeding, while a deep, although somewhat flat chest is 
best adapted for speed. 

The two last ribs are particularly bold and prominent, leaving 
room for the stomachs and other parts concerned in digestion to be 
fully developed. The hips, or huckles, are high up, and on a level 
with the back, whether the beast is fat or lean. The hind quarters, 
or the space from the hip to the point of the rump, are particularly 
long, and well filled up — a point of importance both for grazing and 
working. It leaves room for flesh in the most valuable part, and in- 
dicates much power behind, equally connected with strength and 
speed. This is an improvement quite of modern date. The fullness 
here, and the swelling out of the thigh beloiv, are of much more consequence 
than the jwominence of fat which is so much admired on the rump of 
many prize cattle. 

The setting on of the tail is high ; on a level with the back ; rarely 
much elevated or depressed. This is another great point, as con- 
nected with the perfection of the hind quarters. The tail itself is 
long and small, and taper, with a round bunch of hair at the bottom. 

The skin of the Devon, with his curly hair, is exceedingly mellow 
and elastic. Graziers know that there is not a more important point 
than this. When the skin can be easily raised from the hips, it shows 
that there is room to set on fat below. 

The skin is thin rather than thick. Its appearance of thickness 
arises from the curly hair with which it is covered, and curly in pro- 
portion to the condition and health of the animal. These curls run 
like little ripples on water. Some of these cattle have the hair 
smooth, but then it should be fine and soft. Those with curled 
hair are more hardy, and fatten more kindly. The favorite color is 
a blood red. This is supposed to indicate purity of breed ; but there 
are many good cattle approaching almost to a bay dark. If the 
eye is clear and good, and the skin mellow, the paler colors will bear 
hard work, and fatten as well as others ; but a beast with pale hair, 
and hard under the hand, and the eye dark and dead, will be a slug- 
gish worker, and an uprofitable feeder. Those of a yellow color are 
said to be subject to diarrhoea, or scouring. 

These are the principal points of a good Devon ox ; but he used 
to be, perhaps is yet, a little too flat-sided, and the rump narrowed 
too rapidly behind the hip bones ; there was too much space between 
the hip bones and the last rib ; and he was too light for tenacious 
and strong soils. 

A selection from the most perfect animals of the true breed — the 
bone still small and the neck fine, but the brisket deep and wide, and 
down to the knees, and not an atom of flatness all over the side — 
these have improved the strength and bulk of the Devon ox, without 



THE DEVONS. 



21 



impairing, in the slightest degree, his activity, his beauty, or his pro- 
pensity to fatten. 




Magp^^ 



DEVON OX. 
Commencing to Feed. 

There are few things more remarkable about the Devon cattle than 
the comparative smallness of the cow. The bull is a great deal less 
than the ox, and the cow smaller than the bull. Tbis is some disad- 
vantage, and the breeders are aware of it ; for, although it may not 
be necessary to have a large bull, and especially as those of any 
extraordinary size are seldom handsome in all their points, but some- 
where or other present coarseness or deformity, it is almost impossi- 
ble to procure large and serviceable oxen, except from a somewhat 
roomy cow. These cows, however, although small, possess that 
roundness and projection of the two or three last ribs, which make 
them actually more roomy than a careless examination of them would 
indicate. The cow is particularly distinguished for her full, round, 
clear eye, the gold-colored circle l'ound the eye, "and the same color 
on the inside skin of the ear. The countenance cheerful, and the 
muzzle orange or yellow. The jaws free from thickness, and the 
throat from dewlap. The points of the back and the hind quarters 
different from those of other breeds, having more of roundness and 
beauty, and being free from angles. 



22 



CATTLE. 



The qualities of the Devons may be referred to three points ; their 
working, fattening, and milking. 




DEVON COW. « 

Where the ground is not too heavy, the Devon oxen are unrivalled 
at the plough. They have a quickness of action which no other 
breed can equal, and very few horses exceed. They have a docility 
and goodness of temper, and stoutness and honesty of work, to which 
many horses cannot pretend. It is a common day's work, on fallow 
land, for four Devon steers to plough two acres with a double furrow 
plough. Four good steers will do as much work in the field, or on 
the road, as three horses, and in as quick, and often quicker time, 
although farmers calculate two oxen equal to one horse. The prin- 
cipal objection to Devon oxen is, that they have not sufficient strength 
for tenacious, clayey soils : they will, however, exert their strength to 
the utmost, and stand many a dead pull, which few horses could be 
induced or forced to attempt. They are uniformly worked in yokes, 
and not in collars. Four oxen, or six growing steers, are the usual 
team employed in the plough. 

The opponents of px-husbandry should visit the valleys of north or 
south Devon, to see what this animal is capable of performing, and 
how he performs it. 

The profit derived from the use of oxen in this district arises from 
the activity to which they are trained, and which is unknown in any 
other part of the kingdom. During harvest time, and in catching 
weather, they are sometimes trotted along with the empty wagons, 



THE DEVONS. 23 



at the rate of six miles an hour, a degree of speed which no other 
ox but the Devon has been able to stand. 

It may appear singular to the traveler, that in some of the districts 
that are supposed to be the very head-quarters of the Devon cattle, 
they are seldom used for the plough. The explanation, however, 
is plain enough. The demand for them among graziers is so great, 
that the breeders obtain a remunerating price for them at an 
earlier age than that at which they are generally broken in for the 
plough. 

They are usually taken into work at about two years old, and are 
worked until they are four, or five, or six ; they are then grazed, or 
kept on hay, and in ten or twelve months, and without any further 
trouble, are fit for the. market. If the grass land is good, no corn, 
or cake, or turnips, are required for the first winter ; but, of course, 
for a second winter these must be added. The grazier likes this 
breed best at five years old, and they will usually, when taken from 
the plough, fetch as much money as at six. At eight or nine years, 
or older, they are rapidly declining in value. 

After having been worked lightly on the hills for two years, they 
are bought at four years old by the tillage-farmer of the vales, and 
taken into hard work from four to six ; and, what deserves considera- 
tion, an ox must be thus worked in order for him to attain his fullest 
size. If he is kept idle until he is five or six, he will invariably be 
stinted in his growth. At six he reaches his full stature, unless he is 
naturally disposed to be of more than ordinary size, and then he con- 
tinues to grow for another half year. The Devon oxen are rarely 
shod, and very rarely lame. 

Their next quality is their disposition to fatten, and very few rival 
them here. Some very satisfactory experiments have been made on 
this point. They do not, indeed, attain the great weight of some 
breeds ; but, in a given time, they acquire more flesh, and with less 
consumption of food, and their flesh is beautiful in its kind. It is 
mottled, or marbled, so pleasing to the eye and to the taste. 

For the dairy, the Devons must be acknowledged to be inferior to 
several other breeds. The milk is good, and yields more than an 
average proportion of cream and butter ; but generally it is defi- 
cient in quantity. There are those, however, and no mean judges, 
who deny this, and select the Devons even for the dairy. 

Such is not, however, the common opinion. They are kept 
principally for their other good qualities, in order to preserve the 
breed ; and because, as nurses, they are indeed excellent, and the 
calves thrive from their small quantity of milk more rapidly than 
could possibly be expected. 

This aboriginal breed of British cattle is a very valuable one, 
and seems to have arrived at the highest point of perfection. It 
is heavier than it was thirty years ago, yet fully as active. Its 



24 CATTLE. 

aptitude to fatten is increased, and its property as a milker might 
be improved, without detriment to its grazing qualities. 

Those points in which the Devons were deficient thirty years ago, 
are now fully supplied, and all that is now wanting, is a judicious 
selection of the most perfect of the present breed, in order to pre- 
serve it in its state of greatest purity. Many of the breeders are as 
careless as they ever were ; but the spirit of emulation is excited in 
others. Mr. Davy, of North Molton, lately sold a four-year old bull, 
for which the purchaser had determined to give one hundred guineas 
had it been asked. 

The Devon cattle are more than usually free from disease. The 
greater part of the maladies of cattle, and all those of the respira- 
tory system, are owing to injudicious exposure to cold and wet ; the 
height and thickness of the Devonshire fences, as affording a com- 
fortable shelter to the cattle, may have much to do with this exemp- 
tion from disease. 

The Devons have been crossed with the Guernsey breed, and the con- 
sequence has been, that thej 7 have been rendered more valuable for the 
dairy ; but they have been so much injured for the plough, and for 
the grazier, that the breeders are jealous to preserve the old stock in 
their native purity. 

The treatment of the calf is nearly the same in every district of 
North Devon. The calves that are dropped at Michaelmas, and 
some time afterward, are preferred to those that come in February, 
notwithstanding the additional trouble and expense during the winter. 
The calf is permitted to suck three times every day for a week. It 
is then used to the finger, and warm new milk is given it for three 
weeks longer. For two months afterward it has plenty of warm 
scalded milk, mixed with a little finely-powdered linseed-cake. Its 
morning and evening meals are then gradually lessened ; and, when 
it is four months old, it is quite weaned, 

Of the other districts of Devonshire little need be said. Toward 
the south, extending from Hartland towards Tiverton, the Devons 
prevail, and in their greatest state of purity. There are more dairies 
than in the north, and supplied principally bj r the Devon cows. 
Such are the differences of opinion even in neighboring districts, that 
the later calves are here uniformly preferred, which are longer suckled, 
and afterward fed with milk and linseed-meal. 

Advancing more to the south, and toward the borders of Corn- 
wall, a different breed presents itself, heavier and coarser. We have 
arrived now in the neighborhood of Devonport, where larger cattle 
are required for the service of the navy ; but we must go a little more 
to the south, and enter on the tract of country which extends from 
Tavistock to Newton Abbott, before we have the South Devons in 
full perfection. They are a mixture of the Devons with the native 
breed of the country ; and so adapted do they seem to be to the 



THE DEVONS. 25 



soil, that all attempts to improve them, so far as grazing and fatten- 
ing go, have utterly failed. They are often 14 cwt. to the four 
quarters ; and steers of 2\ cwt. are got with fair hay and grass to 
weigh from six to nine cwt. They bear considerable resemblance to 
the Herefords, and sometimes the color, and the horn, and the white 
face, are so much alike in both, that it is difficult to distinguish 
between them, except that they are usually smaller than the Herefords. 

There are few parts of the country in which there is such bad 
management, and utter neglect of the preservation of the breed, as in 
this and the most eastern part of Devon. It is not properly a grazing 
district, except in the neighborhood of Tavistock ; but young cattle 
are rather brought forward for after-grass or turnips elsewhere than 
finished here for the market, and the method in Avhich this is con- 
ducted is not to be commended. If a calf look likely to fatten, it is 
suffered to run with the cow ten or twelve months, and then slaugh- 
tered. If others, that had not before shown a disposition to thrive, 
now start, they are forwarded as quickly as may be, and disposed 
of ; and therefore it is that all those that are retained, and by which 
the stock is to be kept up, are the very refuse of the farm. Yet 
the breed is not materially deteriorated. It has found a congenial 
climate, and it will flourish there in spite of neglect and injury. The 
grand secret of breeding is to suit the breed to the soil and climate. 
It is because this has not been studied, that those breeds, which 
have been invaluable in certain districts, have proved altogether 
profitless and unworthy of culture in others. The South Devons 
are equally profitable for the grazier, the breeder, and the butcher ; 
but their flesh is not so delicate as that of the Devons. They do for 
the consumption of the navy ; they will not suit fastidious appetites. 

The farmers in the neigborhood of Dartmoor breed very few cat- 
tle. Their calves are usually procured from East Devon, or even 
from Somerset or Dorset. They are reared at the foot of the moors 
for the use of the miners. All, however, are not consumed ; but the 
steers are sold to the farmers of the South Hams, who work them as 
long as they are serviceable ; they are then transferred to the graziers 
from Somersetshire, or East Devon, or Dorset, by Avhom they are 
probably driven back to their native country, and prepared for the 
market of Bristol or London. A very curious peregrination this, 
which great numbers of the west-country cattle experience. 

As we now travel eastward, we begin to lose all distinctness of 
breed. The vale of Exeter is a dairy district, and, as such, contains 
all kinds of cattle, according to the fancy of the farmer. There are 
a few pure Devons, more South Devons, and some Alderneys ; but 
the majority are mongrels of every description : many of them, how- 
ever, are excellent cows, and such as are found scattered over Corn- 
wall, West Devonshire, Somerset, and part of Dorset. 

As we advance along the south and the east, to Teignmouth, Ex- 
2 



26 CATTLE. 

mouth, Sidmouth, and over the hill to the fruitful vale of Honiton, 
we do not find oxen so much used in husbandry. The soil is either 
a cold hard clay, or its flints would speedily destroy the feet of the 
oxen. The same variety of pure Devons and South Devons, and 
natives of that particular district, with intermixtures of every breed, 
prevail, but the South Devons are principally seen. Some of these 
cows seem to unite the opposite qualities of fattening and milking. 
A South Devon has been known, soon after calving, to yield more 
than two pounds of butter a day ; and many of the old southern 
native breed are equal to any short horns in the quantity of their 
milk, and far superior to them in its quality. 

The Devon cattle prevail along that part of the county of Somer- 
set which borders on Devon, until we arrive in the neighborhood of 
Wincaunton and Ilchester, where the pure breed is almost lost sight 
of. In the north of Somerset, few of the Devons are to be seen ; 
but along the coast, and even extending as far as Bristol and Bath, 
the purest breed of the Devons is preferred. They are valued for 
their aptitude to fatten, their quickness and honesty at work ; and 
they are said to be better milkers than in their native county. They 
are of a larger size, for the soil is better, and the pasturage more 
luxuriant. It is on this account that the oxen bred in some parts, 
and particularly in the Vale of Taunton, although essentially Devons, 
are preferred to those from the greater part of Devonshire, and even 
from the neighborhood of Barnstaple and South Molton. They are 
better for the grazier and for the dairy ; and, if they are not quite 
so active as their progenitors, they have not lost their docility and 
freeness at work, and they have gained materially in strength. 

The farmers in the south and south-west of Somerset are endeavor- 
ing to breed that sort of cattle that will answer for the pail, and the 
plough, and grazing — a very difficult point ; for those that are of 
the highest 'proof (exhibiting those points or conformations of par- 
ticular parts which usually indicate a propensity to fatten) are gene- 
rally the worst milkers, both as to quantity and quality. This being, 
however, a dairy county, as well as a grazing one, or more so, the 
principal point with them is a good show for milk. They are, for 
the most part, of the Devon red, and the best suited for all purposes 
of any in the West of England. All that is necessary to keep them 
up in size and proof, and of a good growth, is to change the bull 
every two years. This is a very important, although an overlooked 
and unappreciated principle of breeding, even where the stock is 
most select. No bull should be longer used by the same grazier, or 
some degree of deterioration will ensue. 

It must, nevertheless, be confessed, that in the greater part of the 
county, and where the Devons are liked best for husbandry and for 
grazing, experience has taught many fanners to select another breed 
for the dairy. 



THE DEVONS- 



27 



Our cuts of the two Devon bulls given, are portraits of animals of 
distinction ; the first characterized by great substance, and the 
second by eminent fineness and style ; and both are wanting in 
nothing essential to the Devon bull, while they are both marked by 
great excellence. 




DEVON BULL. 



While our views regard the general breeding of Devons, as seen 
in the practice of the mass of breeders in Devonshire, it is yet proper 
to say that there are some few breeders who have carried their cattle 
forward to a degree of excellence that would seem incapable of 
further advancement ; and which is now so high that we may perhaps 
call it perfection. In point of working form they are not deteriorated, 
and yet they have all the maturity of the short horn, and are equal 
to any breed in the abundance of meat on the prime parts, and in the 
high quality of that meat, it being marbled and sparkling in the 
highest degree. 

The leading breeders are Mr. James Quartly, of Champson Hol- 
land, and his brother, Mr. John Quartly, of Holland ; Mr. Richard 
Merson, of Brinsworthy ; and Mr. James Davy, of Flitton Barton, all 
in Devonshire. Mr. James Quartly has been, more than any other 
breeder, distinguished as a winner of prizes at the shows of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, and the other gentlemen 
named have been successful often at these shows, though as the 



28 CATTLE. 

breeders of the animals shown, more than as the exhibitors. Indeed, 
Mr. Merson has himself never shown, and yet has bred several ani- 
mals that have won in the hands of others. 

The Messrs. Quartlys, the inheritors of an ancient stock, suc- 
ceeded to the herds of their father, the late Mr. Quartly, and their 
uncle, the present Mr. Francis Quartly, who, from age, has declined 
further breeding. From their predecessors they have obtained both 
reputation and excellence in their cattle, and they are more than 
maintaining the high character derived from their father and uncle.* 

Mr. Merson, also, succeeded his father as a breeder, and, like his 
father, ranks at the top of the profession. His cattle are remarkable 
for an abundance of fine meat on the choice parts, great evenness, 
very early maturity, and milking quality unsurpassed by any Devons ; 
and indeed their milking capacity, as a herd, is extraordinary, many 
of his cows equaling the short horns in quantity, while the milk 
still preserves the known superior richness of the Devon race. 

Mr. Davy likewise inherits both the herd and the reputation of 

his father, a distinguished breeder, and his aim has been, like Mr. 

Merson's, to have animals not only of great excellence of carcass, but 

of superior milking capacity. 

Mr. George Turner, of Barton, near Exeter, in Devonshire, has in 
© ... . 

the last few years entered the field of competition with these ancient 

breeders, and, deriving his cattle from them, is breeding with dis- 
tinction. 

Of late years, Devon bullocks have appeared in the Sraithfield 
Club shows, and, when the numbers exhibited are considered, have 
been far more successful than any other breed. At a recent show 
of the Club, there were only thirteen Devons shown, and three 
won prizes, and that, too, in a competition with one hundred and 
seven beasts, Avhich were mainly short horns and Herefords. Two 
of these were exhibited by the Earl of Leicester, and one Avas good 
enough to carry off the Gold Medal, as the best ox in the yard. 
The Earl of Leicester, and his father before him, and their tenant, 
Mr. Bloomfield, all of Norfolk, are well known breeders of Devons. 
They have derived much of their late blood from the Messrs. Quartlvs, 
Mr. Merson, and Mr. Davy. 

* Jt may be mentioned thdl animals bred by Messrs. James and John Quartly, won 
every prize for Devons save one, at the last show of the English Agriculuiral Society 
at Exeter, in Devonshire, July, 1S50, and this was by far the best and most numerous 
show of Devons ever made. — Editor. 



THE HEREFORDS. 29 



THE HEREFORDS. 

The Hereford white-faced breed, with the exception of a very few 
Alderney and Durham cows, have almost exclusive possession of the 
county of Hereford. The Hereford oxen are considerably larger than 
the Devons. They are usually of a darker red ; some of them are 
brown, and even yellow, and a few are brindled ; but they are prin- 
cipally distinguished by their white faces, throats, and bellies. In a 
few the white extends to the shoulders. The old Herefords were 
brown, or red-brown, with not a spot of white about them. It is 
only within the last fifty or sixty years that it has been the fashion 
to breed for white faces. Whatever may be thought of the change 
of color, the present breed is certainly far superior to the old one. 
The hide is considerably thicker than that of the Devon. Compared 
with the Devons, they are shorter in the leg, and also in the carcass ; 
higher, and broader, and heavier in the chine ; rounder and wider 
across the hips, and better covered with fat ; the thigh fuller and 
more muscular, and the shoulders larger and coarser. 

Mr. Marshall gives the following account of them : it is tolerably 
correct, but does not sufficiently distinguish them from their kindred 
breed. " The countenance pleasant, cheerful, open ; the forehead 
broad ; eye full and lively ; horns bright, taper, and spreading ; 
head small ; chap lean ; neck long and tapering ; chest deep ; bosom 
broad, and projecting forward ; shoulder-bone thin, flat, no way pro- 
tuberant in bone, but full and mellow in flesh ; chest full ; loin 
broad ; hips standing wide, and level with the chine ; quarters long, 
and wide at the neck ; rump even with the level of the back, and 
not drooping, nor standing high and sharp above the quarters ; tail 
slender and neatly haired ; barrel round and roomy ; the carcass 
throughout deep and well spread ; ribs broad, standing flat and 
close on the outer surface, forming a smooth, even barrel, the hind- 
most large and full of length ; round bone small, snug, not promi- 
nent ; thigh clean, and regularly tapering ; legs upright and short ; 
bone below the knee and hock small ; feet of middle size ; flank 
large ; flesh everywhere mellow, soft, and yielding pleasantly to the 
touch, especially on the chine, the shoulder, and the ribs ; hide mel- 
low, supple, of a middle thickness, and loose on the neck and huckle ; 
coat neatly haired, bright and silky ; color, a middle red, with a bald 
face, characteristic of the true Hereford breed." 

They fatten to a much greater weight than the Devons, and run 
from fifty to seventy score. (A tolerable cow will average from 
thirty-five to fifty score.) They are not now much used for husbandry, 
though their form adapts them for the heavier work ; and they have 
all the honesty and docility of the Devon ox, and greater strength, 






3D 



CATTLE. 



if not his activity. The Hereford ox fattens speedily at an early age, 
and it is more advantageous to the farmer, and perhaps to the coun- 
try, that he should go to market a three years old, than to be kept 
longer to be employed as a beast of draught. 

They are far worse milkers than the Devons. This is so generally 
aknowledged, that while there are many dairies of Devon cows in 
various parts of the country, (none of which, however, are very 
profitable to their owners,) a dairy of Herefords is rarely to be 
found. 




HEREFORD WORKING OX. 

To compensate for this, they are kindly feeders. Their beef may 
be objected to by some as being occasionally a little too large in the 
bone, and the forequarters being coarse and heavy ; but the meat of 
the best pieces is often very fine grained and beautifully marbled. 
There are few cattle more prized in the market than the genuine 
Herefords. 

The Devons and the Herefords are both excellent breeds, and the 
prejudices of the Devonshire and Herefordshire farmers for their 
peculiar breed being set aside, a cross for the yoke or beef of the one 
will often materially improve the other. The Devon will acquire 
bulk, and the Hereford a finer form and activity. 

The Herefords are evidently an aboriginal breed, and descended- 
from the same stock as the Devons. If it were not for the white 



THE HEREFORDS. 



31 



face, and somewhat larger head and thicker neck, it would not at all 
times be easy to distinguish between a heavy Devon and a light 
Hereford. Their white faces may probably be traced to a cross with 
their not distant relations, the Montgomeries. 

The Hereford cow is apparently a very inferior animal. Not only 
is she no milker, but even her form has been sacrificed by the 
breeder. Herefordshire is more a rearing than a feeding county, 
and therefore the farmer looks mostly to the shape and value of 
his young stock ; and, in the choice of his cow, he does not value 
her, or select her, or breed from her according to her milking 
qualities, or the price which the grazier would give for her, but 
in proprotion as she possesses that general form which experience 
has taught him will render her likely to produce a good ox. 
Hence the Hereford cow is comparatively small and delicate, and 
some would call her ill-made. She is very light-fleshed when in 
common condition, and beyond that, while she is breeding, she is 
not suffered to proceed ; but when she is actually put up for 
fattening, she spreads out, and accumulates fat at a most extra- 
ordinary rate. 




HEREFORD FEEDING OX. 



The breeder has been taught by experience, that when the 
cow, although she should be somewhat roomy, is too large and 
masculine, the ox will be brawny and coarse, and perhaps a little 



32 



CATTLE. 



sluggish at work, and even somewhat unkind and slow in the 
process of fattening, and these are objections which, most of all, 
he would be unwilling to have justly made. The Hereford cow 
is therefore somewhat undersized ; and it not unfrequently hap- 
pens that she produces a bull-calf that grows to three times her 
own weight. 




=-cv>^pe** 



HEREFORD COW. 

Kindly as the Hereford ox fattens, very few are grazed in their 
native country : even the beasts which the home consumption requires 
are principally heifers and old cows. The oxen are sold at five and 
six years old, in tolerable condition, at the Michaelmas fair in Here- 
ford, to the graziers of Buckinghamshire and the neighborhoring 
counties, by whom they are principally preferred for the London 
market. 

The fertility of the soil in Herefordshire has been very much over- 
rated. The traveler, and the superficial observer have been misled 
by the luxuriant woods and rich alluvial soil upon the banks of its 
rivers. The pasture-grounds are generally poor, and the herbage is not 
nutritious, and therefore the farmer naturally confines his chief atten- 
tion to his rearing-stock. The dairy has been comparatively neglected ; 
for experience has proved that the breeding qualities of a cow are 
materially lessened, and even her form is deteriorated, by her being 
inclined to give a large quantity of milk. 



SUSSEX BREED. 



33 




THE SUSSEX OX. 



THE SUSSEX CATTLE. 

Some of the ancient Britons sought refuge from the attacks of 
their invaders, amid the fastnesses of the Weald of East Sussex. 
Thither they drove, or there they found, some of the native cattle of 
the country ; and, they anxiously preserved them free from all admix- 
ture. 

The resemblance between the Sussex and the Devon oxen is very 
great. They unquestionably betray the same origin. 

The Sussex ox has a small and well formed head, compared with 
many other breeds, and even with the Hereford, but evidently coarser 
than that of the Devon ; the horns pushing forward a little, and 
then turning upward, thin, tapering and long — not so as to confound 
this breed with the long horns. The eye is full, large and mild in 
the ox ; but with some degree of unquietness in the cow. The 
throat clean, and the neck, compared with either the long horns or 
the short ones, long and thin, yet evidently coarser than that of the 
Devon. 

At the shoulder is the main difference, and the principal defect in 
the Sussex cattle. There is more wideness and roundness on the 
withers — it is a straighter line from the summit of the withers toward 
the back — there is no projecting point of the shoulder when the ani- 
mal is looked at from behind, but the whole of the fore-quarter is 
thickly covered with flesh, giving too much weight to the coarser 
and less profitable parts. This is counterbalanced by many admira- 
2* 



34 CATTLE. 

ble points. If there is more weight in front, the fore legs are neces- 
sarily wider apart, straighter, and more perpendicular than in the 
Devon ; they are placed more under the body rather than seeming 
to be attached to the sides. The fore-arm is large and muscular, but 
the legs, although coarser than those of the Devon, are small and 
fine downwards, and particularly below the fetlock. The barrel is 
round and deep — the back straight — no rising spinal processes are 
to be seen, but rather a central depression ; and the line of the back, 
if broken, is only done so by a lump of fat rising between the hips. 
The belly and flank are capacious — there is room before for the 
heart and lungs to prepare and circulate the blood, and there is room 
behind, in the capacious belly, for the full development of all the 
organs of digestion ; yet the beast is well ribbed home, the space 
between the last rib and the hip-bone is often very small, and 
there is no hanging heaviness of the belly or flank. The loins of 
the Sussex ox are wide ; the hip-bone does not rise high, nor is it 
ragged externally ; but it is large and spread out, and the space 
between the hips is well filled up. 

The tail, which is fine and thin, is set on lower than in the Devon, 
yet the rump is nearly as straight, for the deficiency is supplied by a 
mass of flesh and fat swelling above. The hind quarters are cleanly 
made, and if the thighs appear to be straight without, there is plenty 
of fulness within. 

The Sussex ox holds an intermediate place between the Devon and 
Hereford, with much of the activity of the first, and the strength 
of the second, and the propensity to fatten, and the beautiful, fine 
grained flesh of both. Experience has shown that it possesses as 
many of the good qualities of both as can be combined in one 
frame. 

The Sussex ox is of a deep chestnut-red — some, however, pre- 
fer a blood-bay : deviation from this color indicates some stain in 
the breed. 

The hide of the true Sussex is soft and mellow ; a coarse, harsh, 
thick hide denotes here, as in every other district, an ill-bred or 
an unthrifty beast. The coat is short and sleek. There is seldom 
found on the Sussex ox that profusion of soft and wavy, and, occa- 
sionally, long hair, which, although it may have the appearance of 
roughness, is consistent with a mellow and vielding hide, and one of 
the truest indications of more than usual propensity to fatten. 

The Sussex cow, like the Hereford one, is very inferior to the ox ; 
she seems to be almost another kind of animal. The breeder has 
endeavored, but with comparatively little success, to give to the 
heifer the same points that the ox possesses. 

The Sussex cow ought to have a deep red color, the hair fine, and 
the skin mellow, thin and soft ; a small head, a fine horn, thin clean 
and transparent, which should run out horizontally, and afterwards 



SUSSEX BREED. 



a^ 



turn up at the tips ; the neck very thin and clean made ; a small leg ; 
a straight top and bottom, with round and springing ribs ; thick 
chine ; loin, hips, and rump wide ; shoulder flat — but the projection 
of the point of the shoulder is not liked, as the cattle subject to this 
defect are usually coarse ; the legs should be rather short ; carcass 
large ; the tail should be level with the rump. 




THE SUSSEX COW. 



The Sussex cow does not answer for the dairy. Although her 
milk is of very good quality, it is so inferior in quantity to that of 
the Holderness or the Suffolk, that she is little regarded for the 
making of butter or cheese. 

There is one great fault about the Sussex cows, seemingly incon- 
sistent with their propensity to fatten, and which cannot be remedied. 
Their countenance indicates an unquiet temper; and they are often 
restless and dissatisfied, prowling about the hedge-rows, and en- 
deavoring to break pasture, and especially if they are taken from the 
farm on which they were bred. 

They are principally kept as breeders, all the use being made of 
them at the same time as dairy cows of which circumstances will 
admit. And it cannot be denied that they are generally in fair con- 
dition, even while they are milking ; and that no beasts, except their 
kindred, the Devons and the Herefords, will thrive so speedily after 
they are dried. The secretion of milk being stopped, the Sussex 
cow will fatten even quicker than the ox. It must, however, be ac- 
knowledged that the Sussex cows are not perfect, even as breeders ; 



36 



CATTLE. 



and that, unless a great deal of care is taken that the cow shall not 
be in too good condition at the time of calving, she is subject to 
puerperal fever, or " drooping ;" while many a calf is lost from the 
too stimulating quality of her milk. 



WALES. 



To the Principality we naturally look for some trace of the 
native breed of cattle, for the Welsh were never entirely subdued 
by any of the early invaders. The Romans possessed merely a por- 
tion of that country ; the Saxons scarcely penetrated at all into 
Wales, or not beyond the county of Monmouth ; the Welsh long re- 
sisted the superior power of the English under the Norman kings ; 
and it was not until late in the thirteenth century that the Principali- 
ty was annexed to the crown of England. We therefore expect to 
find more decided specimens of the native productions of our island : 
nor are we altogether disappointed. 

The principal and the most valuable portion of the cattle of Wales 
are the middle horns. They are, indeed, stunted in their growth, 
from the scanty food which their mountains yield, but they bear 
about them, in miniature, many of the points of the Devon, Sussex, 
and Hereford cattle. 




THE PEM13ROKE OX. 



GLAMORGANSHIRE BREED. 37 

THE PEMBROKE CATTLE. 

Great Britain does not afford a more useful animal than the Pem- 
broke cow or ox. It is black ; the great majority are entirely so ; a 
few have white faces, or a little white about the tail, or the udders ; 
and the horns are white. The latter turn up in a way characteris- 
tic of the breed, and indeed the general form of the cattle undenia- 
bly betrays their early origin. They have a peculiarly lively look 
and good eye. The hair is rough, but short, and the hide is not 
thick. The bones, although not small, are far from large ; and the 
Pembroke cattle are very fair milkers, with a propensity to fatten. 
The meat is generally beautifully marbled. They thrive in every 
situation. 



THE GLAMORGANS. 

The Glamorganshire farmers, of half a century ago, took great 
pride in their cattle, and evinced much judgment in their breeding 
and selection. There was one principle from which they never 
deviated : — they admitted of no mixture of foreign blood, and they 
produced the Glamorgan ox, so much admired for activity and 
strength, and aptitude to fatten ; and the cow, if she did not vie 
with the best milkers, yielded a good remunerating profit for the 
dairyman. 

They were of a dark brown color, with white bellies, and a streak 
of white along the back from the shoulder to the tail. They had 
clean heads, tapering from the neck and shoulders ; long white 
horns, turning upward ; and a lively countenance. Their dewlaps 
Avere small, the hair short, and the coat silky. If there was any 
fault, it was that the rump, or setting on of the tail, was too high 
above the level of the back to accord with the modern notions of 
symmetry. Their aptitude to fatten rendered them exceedingly pro- 
fitable when taken from the plough at six or seven years old, and 
they were brought to great perfection on the rich English pastures 
— frequently weighing more than twenty scores per quarter. The 
beef was beautifully veined and marbled, the inside of the animal 
was well lined with tallow, and the Glamorgans commanded the 
highest price both in the metropolitan and provincial market. Among 
the Glamorgan-vale browns good cow-beef weighed from eight to 
ten score pounds per quarter, although some weighed as much as 
twelve or thirteen scores. Ox-beef is from twelve to fourteen scores 
per quarter ; some, however, reached eighteen and even twenty 
scores. 

During the French revolutionary Avar, the excessive price of corn 
attracted the attention of the Glamorganshire farmers to the increased 



33 



CATTLE. 



cultivation of it, and a great proportion of the best pastures were 
turned over by the plough. / 

The natural consequence of inattention and starvation was, that 
the breed greatly degenerated in its disposition to fatten, and, cer- 
tainly, with many exceptions, but yet, as their general character, the 
Glamorganshire cattle became and are flat-sided, sharp in the hip- 
joints and shoulders, high in the rump, too long in the legs, with 
thick skins, and a delicate constitution. Therefore, it must be 
acknowledged at present, and perhaps it must long continue to be 
the fact, that the Glamorgans, generally, are far from being what 
they once were. They continue, however, to maintain their character 
for stoutness and activity, and are still profitably employed in hus- 
bandry work. The beef is still good, marbled, and good tasted ; and 
in proportion as the value of the ox to the grazier has decreased, the 
value of the cow lias become enhanced for the dairy. He who is 
accustomed to cattle will understand the meaning of this ; and the 
kind of incompatibility between an aptitude to fatten in a little time, 
and on spare keep, and the property of yielding a more than average 
quantity of milk. 







GLAMORGAN OX. 



This is the breed which is established in the populous districts of 
Glamorgan. The Glamorgan cattle bear a close resemblance to the 
Hereford's in figure, although inferior to them in size ; they feed 



ANGLESEY BREED. 



39 



kindly — the flesh and fat are laid equally over them — the beef is 
beautifully marbled, and they yield a more than average quantity of 
milk. They are fattened to perfection at five years old, but not often 
at an earlier age : and will become sufficiently bulky on the good 
pastures of the vale without any artificial food. 




GLAMORGAN COW. 

The cut is the portrait, and gives a faithful representation of the 
present improved breed of Glamorgan dairy-cattle. The average 
quantity of milk given by the cow is about sixteen quarts per day. 

Although we place the cattle of North Wales as " middle-horns," 
we confess that we are a little approaching to the next division, " the 
long-horns." There is, however, a great deal of the character of 
" the middle-horns " about them, and marking their common origin. 



THE ANGLESEY CATTLE. 

The Anglesey cattle are small and black, with moderate bone, 
deep chest, rather too heavy shoulders, enormous dewlap, round 
barrel, high and spreading haunches, the face flat, the horns long, 
and, characteristic of the breed with which we will still venture to 
class them, almost invariably turning upward. The hair is apparently 
coarse, but the hide is mellow : they are hardy, easy to rear, and 
well-disposed to fatten when transplanted to better pasture than 
their native isle affords. 



40 



CATTLE. 







THE ANGLESEY OX. 

The Angleysey cattle are principally destined for grazing. Great 
numbers of them are purchased in the midland counties, and pre- 
pared for metropolitan consumption ; and not a few find their way 
directly to the vicinity of London, in order to be finished for the 
market. In point of size, they hold an intermediate rank between 
the English breeds of all kinds and the smaller varieties of Scotch 
cattle ; and so they do in the facility with which they are brought 
into condition. If they are longer in preparing for the market, they 
pay more at last ; and, like the Scots, they thrive where an English 
beast would starve. 



THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 41 



SCOTLAND. 

Scotland contains several distinct and valuable breeds of cattle, 
evidently belonging to our present division, " The Middle Horns." 

The West Highlanders, whether we regard those that are found 
in the Hebrides, or the county of Argyle, seem to retain most of the 
aboriginal character. They have remained unchanged, or improved 
only by selection, for many generations ; indeed from the earliest 
accounts that we possess of Scottish cattle. 

The North Highlanders are a smaller, coarser, and in every 
way inferior race, and owe the greater part of what is valuable about 
them to crosses from the Western breed. 

The North-Eastern Cattle were derived from, and bear a 
stong resemblance to, the West Highlander, but are of considerably 
larger size. 

The Ayrshire Breed are second to none as milkers. 

The Galloways, which scarcely a century ago were middle- 
horned, and with difficulty distinguished from the West Highlanders, 
are now a polled breed — increased in size, with more striking resem- 
blance to their kindred, the Devons — with all their aptitude to fatten, 
and with a great hardiness of constitution. 

THE WEST HIGHLAND CATTLE. 

The cattle of the islands on the Western coast have the honor of 
being, or, at least, of retaining the character of the primitive breed, 
and whence are procured the purest and best specimens to preserve 
or to improve the Highland cattle in other districts. 

Skirting the coast, from the promontory of Cantire to the northern 
extremity of Scotland, is a range of islands — the Hebrides, about 
half of them inhabited by man. 

Little is known of the history of the Hebrideans, except that they 
descended from the same stock with the Irish and the Highlanders ; 
and, at no very remote period, the inhabitants were singularly uncul- 
tivated, ignorant, idle, and miserable. 

After the union between the English and Scottish kingdoms, and 
when civilization had commenced on the mainland, the Hebrideans 
began to be reclaimed, and that was chiefly manifested in, and pro- 
moted by, a change of occupation. Although they did not abandon 
their seafaring life, they began to be agriculturists. Their cattle, 
which had been totally neglected, and their value altogether unknown, 
retained their primitive character. The Hebrideans for the first time 
became aware of this, and they bred them in greater numbers, and a 
few of the most intelligent farmers endeavored to improve them by 
selections from the best specimens of their native stock ; the result 



42 



CATTLE. 



has been, that the breeds of some of these islands now bear the highest 
price among the Highland cattle. 










WESf HIGHLAND BULL OF THE ISLES. 

In a group of islands, extending nearly two hundred miles from 
north to south, there will be considerable difference in the character 
and value of the breed ; but through the whole of them the striking 
peculiarities of the Highland cattle are evident. The principal differ- 
ence is in the size, and in that the cattle of the southernmost island, 
Islay, claim the superiority. This island is sheltered by its situation 
from the storms to which most of the others are exposed, and the 
pasturage is better ; the cattle are earlier ready for the market, and 
attain a greater weight. This increase of size would not be of advan- 
tage on the northern islands, or even on the mainland — the cattle, 
deprived of a portion of their hardihood, would not be proof against 
the inclemency of the weather, and would starve on such scanty 
forage as the Highlands in general supply. Breeders are so much 
aware of this, that they endeavor to preserve the purity and value of 
their stock, by selecting, not from the districts where the size has 
increased, but, by almost general consent, from the Isle of Skye, 
where the cattle are small, but arc suited to the soil and to the climate ; 
and can be most easily and securely raised at the least expense ; and, 
when removed to better provender, will thrive with a rapidity almost 
incredible. 

The origin of the term Kyloe is obscure, but is said to be a cor- 



THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 43 

ruption of the Gaelic word which signifies highland, and is pronounced 
as if spelled Kael. 

The Highland bull, or kyloe, should be black, or pale red, the head 
small, the ears thin, the muzzle fine, and rather turned up. He 
should be broad in the face, the eyes prominent, and the countenance 
calm and placid. The horns should taper finely to a point; and, 
neither drooping too much, nor rising too high, should be of a waxy 
color, and widely set on at the root. The neck should be fine, par- 
ticularly where it joins the head, and rising with a gentle curve from 
the shoulder. The breast wide, and projecting well before the legs. 
The shoulders broad at the top, and the chine so full as to leave but 
little hollow behind them. The girth behind the shoulder deep ; 
the back straight, wide, and flat ; the ribs broad, the space between 
them and the hips small ; the belly not sinking low in the middle ; 
yet, on the whole, not forming a round and barrel-like carcass. The 
thigh tapering to the hock-joint ; the bones larger in proportion to 
the size than in the breeds of the southern districts. The tail set on 
a level with the back. The legs short and straight. The whole car- 
cass covered with a thick, long coat of hair, and plenty of hair also 
about the face and horns, and that hair not curly. 

The value of the "West Highland cattle consists in their being 
hardy, and easily fed ; in that they Avill live, and sometimes thrive, 
on the coarsest pastures ; that they will frequently gain from a fourth 
to a third of their original weight in six months' good feeding ; that 
the proportion of offal is not greater than in the most improved 
larger breeds ; that they will lay their flesh and fat equably on the 
best parts ; and that, when fat, «the beef is close and fine in the 
grain, highly flavored, and so well mixed or marbled, that it com- 
mands a superior price in every market. 

Forty years ago, the treatment of cattle was, with very few excep- 
tions, absurd and ruinous, to a strange degree, through the whole of 
the Hebrides. "With the exception of the milch cows, but not even 
of the calves, they were all wintered in the field : if they were scantily 
fed with hay, it was coarse, and withered, and half-rotten ; or if they 
got a little straw, they were thought to be well taken care of. The 
majority got little more than sea-weed, heather, and rushes. One- 
fifth of the cattle, on an average, used to perish every winter from 
starvation. When the cold had been unusually severe, and the snow- 
had lain long on the ground, one-half of the stock has been lost, and 
the remainder have afterward been thinned by the diseases which 
poverty had engendered. 

It proved the excellency of the breed, that, in the course of two 
or three months, so many of them got again into good store-condi- 
tion, and might almost be said to be half-fat, and could scarcely be 
restrained by any fence : in fact, there are numerous instances of 
these cattle, which had been reduced to the most dreadful state of 



44 CATTLE. 

impoverishment, becoming fattened for the butcher in a few months, 
after being- placed on some of the rich summer pastures of Islay, 
Lewis, or Skye. 

The cows were housed during the winter ; the litter was never 
removed from them, but fresh layers of straw were occasionally laid 
down, and so the floor rose with the accumulation of dung and litter, 
until the season of spreading it upon the land, when it was taken 
away. 

The peculiarity of the climate, and the want of inclosed lands, and 
the want, too, of forethought in the farmer, were the chief causes of 
this wretched system of winter starvation. The rapidity of vegetation 
in the latter part of the spring is astonishing in these islands. A 
good pasture can scarcely be left a fortnight without growing high 
and rank ; and even the unenclosed, and marshy, and heathy grounds, 
are comparatively luxuriant. In consequence of this, the farmer fully 
stocked, or overstocked, even this pasture. He crowded his fields 
at the rate of six or eight beasts, or more, to an acre. From their 
natural aptitude to fatten, they got into tolerable condition, but not 
such as they might have attained. Winter, however, succeeded to 
summer : no provision had been made for it, except for the cows ; 
and the beasts that were not properly fed even in the summer, lan- 
guished and starved in the winter. 

The Hebrides, however, have partaken of that improvement in 
agriculture of which we shall have frequently to speak when describ- 
ing the different districts of Scotland. In the island of Islay, the 
following is the general system of management among the better 
kind of farmers, and the account will apply to the Hebrides generally, 
and to Argyleshire. 

The calves generally are dropped from the 1st of February to the 
middle of April. All are reared ; and for three or four months are 
allowed to suck three times in the day, but are not permitted to 
draw any great quantity at a time. In summer, all the cattle are 
pastured ; the calves are sent to their dams twice a day, and the 
strippings, or last part of the milk, is taken away by the dairy-maid. 
The calves are separated from their dams two or three weeks before 
the cast-cows are sent to the cattle-tryst at the end of October, the 
greater part of them being driven as far as the Lowland districts, 
whence they gradually find their way to the central and southern 
counties of England. 

The calves are housed in the beginning of November, and are 
highly fed on hay and roots (for the raising of which the soil and 
climate are admirably adapted) until the month of May. When 
there is plenty of keep, the breeding cows are housed in November, 
but in general they are kept out until three or four weeks before 
calving. In May the whole cattle are turned out to pasture, and, if 
it is practicable, those of different ages are kept separate ; while, by 



THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 45 

shifting the cattle, the pasture is kept as much as possible in eatable 
condition, that is, neither eaten too bare, nor allowed to get too rank, 
or to run into seed. 

In the winter and the spring all the cattle except the breeding 
cows are fed in the fields ; the grass of which is preserved from the 
12th of August to the end of October. When these inclosures be- 
come bare, about the end of December, a little hay is taken into the 
field, with turnips or potatoes, once or twice in the day, according to 
circumstances, until the middle or end of April. Few of the farmers 
have these roots to give them, and the feeding of the out-lying cattle 
with straw is quite abolished. If any of them, however, are very 
materially out of condition, they are fed with oats in the sheaf. At 
two, or three, or four years old, all except the heifers retained for 
breeding are sent to market. 

There is no variety of breeds of cattle in the Hebrides. They are 
pure West Highlanders. Indeed, it is the belief of the Hebridean 
farmer, that no other cattle will thrive on these islands, and that 
the Kyloes could not possibly be improved by being crossed with any 
others. He appeals to his uniform experience, and most correctly so 
in the Hebrides, that attempts at crossing have only destroyed the 
symmetry of the Kyloes, and rendered them more delicate, and less 
suitable to the climate and the pasture. 

By selection from the choicest of the stock, the West Highlander 
has been materially improved. The Islay, the Isle of Skye, and 
the Argyleshire beast, readily obtains a considerably higher price 
than any other cattle reared in the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. 
M'Neil has been eminently successful in his attempts to improve the 
native breed. He has often obtained £100 for three and four-year-old 
bulls out of his stock ; and for one bull he received £200. He never 
breeds from bulls less than three years, or more than ten years old ; 
and be disapproves, and rightly in such a climate, of the system of 
breeding in and in. He also adheres to that golden rule of breeding, 
the careful selection of the female ; and, indeed, it is not a small sum 
that would induce the Hebridean farmer to part with any of his 
picked cows. 

It is true that grazing has never been the principal object of the 
Hebridean farmer, or has scarcely been deemed worthy of his atten- 
tion. 

It will be concluded from what we have said of the milking pro- 
perties of the Kyloe, that the dairy is considered as a matter of little 
consequence in the Hebrides ; and the farmer rarely keeps more 
milch cows than will furnish his family with milk and butter and 
cheese. The Highland cow will not yield more than a third part of 
the milk that is obtained from the Ayrshire one at no great distance 
on the main land ; but that milk is exceedingly rich, and the butter 
procured from it is excellent. 



46 



CATTLE. 



- 



Oxen are never used for the plough, or on the road, on any of the 
Hebrides. 

We have stated that more than 20,000 of the Hebridean cattle are 
conveyed to the mainland, some of which find their way even to the 
southernmost counties of England ; but, like the other Highland cattle, 
their journey is usually slow and interrupted. Their first resting- 
place is not a great way from the coast, for they are frequently win- 
tered on the coarse pastures of Dumbartonshire ; and in the next 
summer, after grazing awhile on the lower grounds, they are driven 
farther south, where they are fed during the second winter on turnips 
and hay. In April they are in good condition, and prepared for the 
early grass, on which they are finished. 

Many of these small cattle are permanently arrested in their journey, 
and kept on low farms to consume the coarse grass, which other 
breeds refuse to eat ; these are finished off on turnips, which are given 
them in the field about the end of autumn, and they are sold about 
Christmas. 




THE WEST HIGHLAND COW. 

In the Outer Hebrides the black cattle are small but well pro- 
portioned, and on the tackmen's farms they are generally of good 
breed, and, although not heavy, very handsome. They are covered 
with a thick and long pile during the winter and spring ; and a 
good pile is considered one of the essential qualifications of a 
cow. The most common colors are black, red, brown, or brand- 
ered, (that is, a mixture of red and brown in stripes — brindled.) 
A whitish dun color is also pretty frequently seen. The breed of 



THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 47 



Mack cattle has been greatly improved of late years, by the im- 
portation of bulls and cows from various parts of the Highlands. 



WEST HIGHLANDERS IN ARGYLESHIRE. 

The county of Argyle stretches along the western coast of Scot- 
land for 115 miles, but its average breadth is little more than 30 
miles. The southern part is low, and comparatively level, and the 
temperature mild. The northern is rugged and mountainous, and the 
climate cold and ungenial, and there is much barren land, and little 
good pasture ; but in Cantire, at the south, there is plenty of excel- 
lent feed ; therefore the cattle differ materially in the northern and 
southern parts. Among the mountains, the Highland breed is found 
almost unmixed ; in the level country, there is the same variety and 
mixture of breed which is observed in other dairy districts. 

In North Argyle the West Highlanders are larger than the Hebri- 
deans, and are now bred to the full size which the soil, or the best 
qualities of the animal, will bear. That fundamental principle of 
breeding is generally adopted here, that the size must be determined 
by the soil and the food ; and that it is far more profitable to the 
farmer to have the size of his breed under, than over, the produce of 
his land. Both will gradually adapt themselves to the soil ; but the 
small beast will become more bulky, and improve in all his points — 
the large one Avill degenerate in form and in every good quality. There- 
fore, the soil and management of Argyle being, generally speaking, 
better than that of the Hebrides, it was found that a somewhat larger 
animal might be admitted ; he was, however, procured, not by cross- 
ing with a breed of superior size, but by careful selection from the 
best of the pure breed. Experience and judgment soon discovered 
when the proper point — the profitable weight — was gained ; and 
then the farmer went back to the equally pure but smaller breed of 
Skye, lest the form should be deteriorated, and the fattening should 
not be so equable and true, and the meat should lose some of its 
beautiful character and flavor. 

There is no part of the Highlands where the soil and the climate 
are better adapted to the perfection of the breed than in Argyle, or 
where we oftener see the true characteristics of the best Highland 
cattle — short and somewhat strong in the shank, round in the body, 
straight in the back, well-haired, long in the muzzle, and with a well- 
turned and rather small horn. There is no district in which the 
farmer so superstitiously, and yet properly, refrains from foreign ad- 
mixture. Could the two great errors of the Highland farmer be 
remedied, namely, overstocking in summer and starving in Avinter — 
there would be nothing more to desire for the grazier, except, per- 



48 



CATTLE. 




THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 



haps, docility of temper ; and that will be acquired when improve- 
ments in agriculture have rendered it unnecessary for the beast to 
wander so far over so wild a country, in search of food, and when he 
will be earlier and more perfectly domesticated. The Highlander, 
however, must be reared for the grazier alone. Every attention to 
increase his weight, in order to make him capable of agricultural 
labor — every effort to qualify him for the dairy, will not only lessen 
his hardiness of constitution and propensity to fatten, but will fail in 
rendering him valuable for the purpose at which the farmer foolishly 
aims. The character of the Highlander must still be, that he will 
pay better for his quantity of food than any other breed, and will 
fatten where any other breed would only live. This is the secret of 
profitably breeding or grazing the Highland cattle. 




THE WEST HIGHLAND FAT OX. 

The management both of the cow and her calf depend much on 
the object Avhich the breeder principally pursues. If he studies the 
character of his stock, he makes little butter and cheese, and generally 
rears a calf for every cow, giving it the greater part of her milk. A 
likely bull-calf is sometimes allowed the milk of two cows for a con- 
siderable time, and often for six months. When the calves are 
weaned, they are fed on the hills during the summer, and brought on 
the lower grounds in winter ; and, if the pasture is not good, they 
are occasionally fed with straw and hay. It is after the first winter 
that the absurd and cruel system of overstocking and starvation com- 
3 



50 



CATTLE. 



mences. From the superiority of the soil, however, this is not carried 
to the ruinous extent here that it is in the Hebrides. In favorable 
situations, some farmers winter their calves in open sheds, where they 
are fed with hay in the racks. This makes them hardier, and does 
not cripple their growth. 




WEST HIGHLAND FEEDING OX. 

The Argylcshire farmer is sometimes wrong in breeding from a 
favorite cow too long. Although the Highlanders fatten rapidly for 
a certain time, and begin early to fatten where the pasturage will 
give them opportunity, they do not thrive so well when old. A cow, 
ultimately destined for the drover, should not be permitted to breed 
after six years old. She may make fair meat for home consumption, 
but she will not fatten so quickly, or so truly, on all her points ; 
and the drover will seldom purchase her except at a very inferior 
price. 

It is now also established as a principle, that the same bull should 
not be used too long. The hardiness of the cattle has been thought 
to be materially affected by it. The bulls are generally disposed 
of at six years old, when they are in full vigor, and valuable for some 
distant herd. 

The Ayrshire cow has, however, nearly superseded the native 
breed through the whole of Argyleshire for the purposes of the 
dairy. She is promising to spread as rapidly and as widely through 
the middle and northern parts of Scotland as the short-horn has done 



THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 



51 



along the whole of the eastern part of England. The West Highland 
cattle are universally adopted for grazing farms, and the Ayrshire 
nearly as generally for the dairy. Some Galloways are found in 
Argyle, and particularly in the southern part of the county : but 
they are not equal to the native Highlanders. 



THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 




SHETLAND BULL, OR WEST HIGHLANDER OF THE SHETLAND ISLES. 

The Shetland islands present a wonderful scene of rugged, black, 
and barren rocks. No tree or shrub relieves these dreary scenes, 
and only gray rocks appear rising from the marshes, and pools, and 
shores, bounded by the wildest precipices. There are few or no arti- 
ficial grasses, or green crops, or enclosures protecting these crops, 
and grasses could not be brought to perfection in these islands : there 
is nothing but moss, heath, and sea-weed ; yet there is a breed of 
horses, diminutive, but beautiful, hardy, and strong ; and the cattle 
are of the same origin with the West Highlanders. They have been 
diminished in size by the coldness of the climate and the scarcity of 
food ; but they have not been so seriously injured by the folly of 
men — they have not been domesticated to be starved outright. They 
are small, gaunt, ill-shaped, so far, indeed, as their shape can be 
ascertained through the long, thick hair with which they are covered, 
and which forms an impenetrable defence against the snow and the 



52 



CATTLE. 



sleet. They are rarely more than four feet high at the withers, and 
sometimes scarcely more than thirty-five or forty pounds a quarter. 

The Shetland cattle contrive to live on their native moors and 
wastes, and some of them fatten there ; for a considerable and in- 
creasing quantity of beef is salted in Shetland and sent to the main- 
land, the quality of which is exceedingly good. When, however, the 
Shetlanders are transported to the comparatively richer pastures of 
the north of Scotland, they thrive with almost incredible rapidity, 
and their flesh and fat, being so newly and quickly laid on, is said to 
be peculiarly delicious and tender. They run to fifteen or sixteen, 
or even twenty stones in weight. If they are carried still farther 
south they rarely thrive ; they become sickly, and even poor, in the 
midst of abundance : the change is too great, and the constitution 
cannot become habituated to it. 



ABERDEENSHIRE. 

This extensive county breeds or grazes more cattle than any other 
of Scotland. The cattle in Aberdeenshire have been calculated at 
110,000. More than 20,000 are slaughtered, or sold to the graziers, 
every year. 




ABERDEENSHIRE OX. 



THE ABERDEEN BREED. 



53 



The character of the cattle varies with that of the country. In 
the interior, and on the hills, formerly occupying- the whole of that 
district, and still existing in considerable numbers, is the native un- 
mixed Highland breed. This breed, however, would be out of its 
place in the milder climate and more productive soil of the lower 
district of Aberdeen ; another kind of cattle was therefore gradually 
raised, the origin of which it is difficult to describe. 

It was first attempted by judicious selections from the native 
breed, and some increase of size was obtained, but not sufficient for 
the pasture. The long-horn and the short-horn were tried ; but 
either they did not amalgamate with the native breed, or a species of 
cattle were produced too large for the soil. There were exceptions 
to this, and one of them, the Kintore ox, we give in two stages of his 
preparation for market. 

He was bred bred by Lord Kintore from an Aberdeenshire cow 
and a short-horn bull. 




KINTORE OX, FEEDING^ 

This animal was a sufficient proof of what may be effected by the 
cross. The introduction of steam will probably tempt many of the 
northern breeders to try this first cross. 

To improve the Aberdeen cattle, all the southern counties of Scot- 
land were resorted to, but with doubtful success. The Fife, or 
Falkland breed, possessed enough of the old cattle to bid fair to 
mingle and be identified with the natives, while the bones were 
smaller, the limbs cleaner, and yet short ; the carcass fairly round, 
and the hips wide, and they were superior in size, hardy, and docile, 



54 



CATTLE. 



and excellent at work, and good milkers. These were desirable 
qualities, and particularly as mingling Avith the Highland breed. 
Accordingly, bulls from Fife were introduced into Aberdeen, and 
the progeny so answered as to be generally adopted, and become 
the foundation of what is now regarded as the Aberdeenshire native 
breed. 




KINTORE OX, FATTED. 

The horns do not taper so finely, nor stand so much upward as in 
the West Highlanders, and they are also whiter ; the hair is shorter 
and thinner ; the ribs cannot be said to be flat, but the chest is 
deeper in proportion to the circumference ; and the buttock and 
thighs are likewise thinner. The color is usually black, but some- 
times brindled : they are heavier in carcass ; they give a larger quan- 
tity of milk ; but they do not attain maturity so early as the West 
Highlanders, nor is their flesh quite so beautifully marbled : yet, at 
a proper age, they fatten as readily as the others, not only on good 
pasture, but on that which is somewhat inferior. 



THE AYRSHIRES. 55 



AYRSHIRE BREED. 

This county extends along the eastern coast of the Firth of Clyde, 
and the North Channel from Renfrew to Wigtownshire, by the for- 
mer of which it is bordered on the north, and by the latter on the 
south, while it has Kircudbright, Dumfries, and Lanark on the 
east. The climate is moist, but mild ; and the soil, with its produce, 
is calculated to render it the finest dairy county in Scotland, and 
equal, perhaps, to any in Great Britain. There is a great deal of 
permanent pasture on the sides and tops of the hills ; but the greater 
part of the arable land is pasture and crop alternately. The pasture- 
ground is occupied by the beautiful dairy stock, a very small portion 
of it being reserved for the fattening of cows too old to milk. 

Ayrshire is divided into three districts ; — South of the river Doon 
is the Bailiary of Oarrick — between the Doon and the Irvine is the 
Bailiary of Kyle, and north of the Irvine is Cunningham. This last 
division lays principal claim to be the native country of the Ayrshire 
cattle, and, indeed, they once went by the name of the Cunningham 
cattle. 

Mr. Aiton, in his " Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows," thus 
describes the Ayrshire cattle ; — " The shapes most approved of, are — 
head small, but rather long and narrow at the muzzle ; the eye small, 
but smart and lively ; the horns small, clear, crooked, and their roots 
at considerable distance from each other ; neck long and slender, 
tapering toward the head, with no loose skin below ; shoulders thin ; 
fore-quarters light ; hind-quarters large ; back straight, broad behind, 
the joints rather loose and open ; carcass deep, and pelvis capacious, 
and wide over the hips, with round fleshy buttocks ; tail long and 
small ; legs small and short, with farm, joints ; udder capacious, broad, 
and square, stretching forward, and neither fleshy, low hung, nor 
loose ; the milk veins large and prominent ; teats short, all pointing 
outward, and at considerable distance from each other ; skin thin and 
loose ; hair soft and wooly. The head, bones, horns, and all parts of 
least value, small ; and the general figure compact and well propor- 
tioned." Mr. Rankine very properly remarks, that, "compared with 
other improved breeds, the thighs, or what is called the twist of the 
Ayrshire cow, are thin. She is, characteristically, not a fleshy 
animal." 

The Ayrshire farmers prefer their dairy-bulls, according to the 
feminine aspect of their heads and necks ; and wish them not round 
behind, but broad at the hook-bones and hips, and full in the flanks. 
Experience, dearly bought, led to this, for the consequence of the 
crossing of the small native breeds with the heavy cattle imported 
from the south, was a bony, ill-shaped animal, not much improved as 
a milker, and its disposition to fat lamentably decreased ; it may, 
however, demand consideration whether the round and compact form 



56 



CATTLE. 



of the West Highlander and the Galloway have not been too 
much sacrificed, and even the defects of the short-horn needlessly 
perpetuated. 

Mr. Aiton says : — " The qualities of a cow are of great importance. 
Tameness and docility of temper greatly enhance the value of a milch 
cow. Some degree of hardiness, a sound constitution, and a mode- 
rate degree of life and spirits, are qualities to be wished for in a 
dairy cow, and what those of Ayrshire generally possess. The most 
valuable quality which a dairy cow can possess is, that she yields 
much milk, and that of an oily, or butyraceous, or caseous nature, 
and that after she has yielded very large quantities of milk for several 
years, she shall be as valuable for beef as any other breed of cows 
known ; her fat shall be much more mixed through the whole flesh, 
and she shall fatten faster than any other." This is high praise, if it 
can be truly affirmed 01 the Ayrshire cattle ; we are naturally anxious 
to know the origin, the history, and the general management of this 
valuable animal. 




AYRSHIRE COW. 

The origin of the Ayrshire cow is even at the present day a matter 
of dispute ; all that is certainly known is, that a century ago there 
was no such breed in Cunningham, or Ayrshire, or Scotland. Did 
the Ayrshire cattle arise entirely from a careful selection of the best 
of the native breed ? — if they did, it is a circumstance unparalleled 
in the history of agriculture. The native breed may be ameliorated 
by careful selection ; its value may be incalculably increased — some 
good qualities — some of its best qualities — may be for the first time 



THE AYRSHIRES. 



57 



developed ; but yet there "will be some resemblance to the original 
stock, and the more we examine the animal, the more clearly we can 
trace out the characteristic points of the ancestor, although every 
one of them improved. 




THE AYRSHIRE BULL. 

Mr. Aiton gives the following description of the Ayrshire cattle 
seventy years ago : — " The cows kept in the districts of Kyle and 
Cunningham were of a diminutive size, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and they 
vielded but a scanty return in milk ; they were mostly of a black 
color, with large stripes of white along the chine or ridge of their 
backs, about the flanks, and on their faces. Their horns were high 
and crooked, having deep ringlets at the root, the plainest proof that 
the cattle were but scantily fed ; the chine of their backs stood up 
high and narrow : their sides were lank, short and thin ; their hides 
thick, and adhering to the bones ; their pile was coarse and open ; 
and few of them vielded more than six or eight quarts of milk per 
day, when in their best plight ; or weighed, when fat, more than from 
twelve or sixteen to twenty stones avoirdupois, sinking offal." It was 
impossible that these cattle, fed as they then were, could be of great 
weight, well shaped, or yield much milk. Their only food in winter 
and spring was oat-straw, and what they could pick up in the fields 
to which they were turned out almost every day, with a mash of a 
little corn with chaff daily for a few weeks after calving, and their 
pasture in summer was of the very worst quality ; and that coarse 
3* 



58 CATTLE. 

pasture was so overstocked, and eaten so bare, that the cattle were 
half-starved. 

If Mr. Aiton's description of the present improved Ayrshire is 
correct, the breed is very much changed, and yet there is so much 
indistinct resemblance, that a great deal of it must have been done 
by careful selection, from among the native cattle, and better feeding 
and treatment ; but when we look closer into the matter, the short- 
ness, or rather diminutiveness of the horns, their width of base, and 
awkward setting on ; the peculiar tapering towards the muzzle ; the 
narrowing at the girth ; the bellying ; and the prominences of all the 
bones — these are features which it is impossible for any selection from 
the native breed to give. While the judge of cattle will trace the 
features of the old breed, he will suspect, what general tradition con- 
firms, that it was a fortunate cross, or a succession of crosses with 
some foreign stock, and that, probably, it was the Teeswater short- 
horn that helped to produce the improved Cunningham cattle. 

In many other districts of Scotland the attempt to introduce the 
Teeswater breed, or to establish a cross from it, had palpably failed, 
for the soil and the climate suited only the hardihood of the High- 
lander ; but here in Ayrshire was a mild climate — a dairy country; 
the Highlander was in a manner out of his place ; he had degene- 
rated, and the milking properties of the Teeswater and her capa- 
bility of ultimately fattening, amalgamated Avith his hardihood and 
disposition to fatten, and there resulted a breed, bearing the stamp of 
its progenitors, and, to a very considerable degree, the good qualities 
of both. 

Who introduced the present breed is not very precisely ascer- 
tained ; but the late Colonel Fullarton, in his account of " The Hus- 
bandry of Ayrshire," which was published in 1793, and whose au- 
thority is of considerable weight in everything relating to it, states, 
that a gentleman of long experience, Mr. Bruce Campbell, asserts 
that this breed was introduced by the late Earl of Marchmont. The 
introduction, then, of this dairy-stock must have happened between 
1724 to 1740, and so far corresponds with the traditionary account. 
From what particular part of the country they came there appears 
no evidence. The conjecture is, that they are either of the Teeswater 
breed, or derived from it ; judging from the varied color, or, from 
somewhat better evidence, the small head and slender neck, in which 
they bear a striking resemblance to them. Some breeders, however, 
have maintained that they were produced from the native cow, 
crossed by the Alderney bull. It requires but one moment's inspec- 
tion of the animals, to convince us that this supposition is altogether 
erroneous. 

These catttle, from which, by crosses with the native breed, the 
present improved Ayrshire arose, were first introduced on Lord 
Marchmont's estates in Berwickshire, and at Sornbergh in Kyle. A 






THE AYRSHIRES. 59 



bull of the new stock was sold, to Mr. Hamilton of Sundrum ; then 
Mr. Dunlop in Cunningham imported some of the short-horns, and 
their progeny was long afterwards distinguished by the name of the 
Dunlop cows. These were the first of the improved breed that 
reached the bailliery of Cunningham. Mr. Orr, about the year 1767, 
brought to Kilmarnock some fine milch cows, of a larger size than any 
which had been seen there. It was not, however, until about 1780 
that this improved breed might be said to be duly estimated, or gene- 
rally established in that part of Ayrshire ; about 1790, Mr. Fulton from 
Blith carried them first into Carrick, and Mr. Wilson of Kilpatrick 
first took them to the southern parts of that district. So late as 
1804 they were introduced on the estate of Penmore, and they are 
now the established cattle of Ayrshire ; they are increasing in the 
neighboring counties, and have found their way to most parts of 
Britain. 

The breed has much improved since Mr. Aiton described it, and is 
short in the leg, the neck a little thicker at the shoulder, but finely 
shaped toward the head ; the horns smaller than those of the High- 
lander, but clear and smooth, pointing forward, turning upward, 
and tapering to a point. They are deep in the carcass, but not 
round and ample, and especially not so in the loins and haunches. 
Some, however, have suspected, and not without reason, that an at- 
tention to the shape and beauty, and an attempt to produce fat and 
sleeky cattle, which may be admired at the show, has a tendency to 
improve what is only their quality as grazing cattle — and that at the 
certainty of diminishing their value as milkers, 

The excellency of a dairy cow is estimated by the quantity and 
the quality of her milk. The quantity yielded by the Ayrshire cow 
is, considering her size, very great. Five gallons daily, for two or 
three months after calving, may be considered as not more than an 
average quantity. Three gallons daily will be given for the next 
three months, and one gallon and a half during the succeeding four 
months. This would amount to more than 850 gallons ; but allow- 
ing for some unproductive cows, 600 gallons per year may be the 
average quantity annually from each cow. 

The disposal of the milk varies according to the situation of the 
farm and the character of the neigborhood. Tf it is sold as new 
milk, the produce of the cow will be £20 per annum. Others 
at a distance from any considerable town, convert it into butter or 
cheese. 

The quality of the milk is estimated by the quantity of butter or 
cheese that it will yield. Three gallons and a half of this milk will 
yield about a pound and a half of butter. An Ayrshire cow, there- 
fore, may be reckoned to yield 257 pounds of butter per annum. 

When the calculation is formed, according to the quantity of cheese 
that is usually produced, the following will be the result : — twenty- 



60 CATTLE. 

eight gallons of milk, with the cream, will yield 24 pounds of sweet- 
milk cheese, or 514 pounds per annum. 

This is certainly an extraordinary quantity of butter and cheese, 
and fully establishes the reputation of the Ayrshire cow, so far as the 
dairy is concerned.* 

Mr. Aiton rates the profit of the Ayrshire cow at a higher value. 
He says, " To sum up all in one sentence, I now repeat that thou- 
sands of the best Scotch dairy cows, when they are in their best 
condition and well fed, yield at the rate of 1000 gallons in one year; 
that, in general, from 3J to 4 gallons of their milk will yield a pound 
and a half of butter ; that 27{ gallons of their milk will produce 21 
pounds weight of full milk-cheese." 

Mr. Rankine very justly maintains that Mr. Aiton's statement is 
far too high, and his calculations not well founded. " He deduces 
his statement," says Mr. Rankine, " from the circumstance of some 
farmers letting the milk of their cows for a year at £15 and £17, 
which, taking 30 gallons to produce 24 lbs. of cheese, and the price 
being 10s., would require 1,080 gallons for each cow. But he is 
not warranted in inferring that the milk from which these rents were 
paid was all converted into cheese. No such rents were ever paid 
for cows where a considerable portion of the milk was made into 
cheese. In the vicinity of a town where the whole of the milk could 
be sold for 8d. a gallon, 450 gallons would bring £15. Where the 
whole of the milk could have been turned to such an account, such 
rents might have been paid ; but it is erroneous to calculate the 
quantity of milk given from the quantity of cheese required to enable 
a rent of £15 to be paid. His first statement that 600 gallons are 
yielded, though far above the average of all the cows in the county, 
may be too low when applied to the best selected stocks on good 
land ; — but I have reason to believe that no stock of 20 cows ever 
averaged 850 gallons each in the year. I have seen 9 gallons of 
milk drawn from a cow in one day. I quote with confidence the 
answers to queries which I sent to two individuals. One states that, 
at the best of the season, the average milk from each is 4| gallons, 
and in a year 650 gallons ; that in the summer season 32 gallons of 
entire milk will make 24 lbs. of cheese ; and 48 gallons of skimmed 
milk will produce the same quantity : and that 90 gallons will make 

24 lbs. of butter. Another farmer, who keeps a stock of between 
30 and 40 very superior cows, always in condition, states that the 
average quantity of each is 687| gallons. Although there may be 

* In some experiments conducted at the Earl of Chesterfield's dairy at Bradley- 
Hall farm, it appeared that, in the height of the season, the Holderness would yield 
7 gallons and a quart ; the long horn and the Alderney, 4 gallons 3 quarts ; and the 
Devon, 4 gallons 1 pint per day ; and when this was made into butter, the result was, 
from the Holderness, 38j ounces ; from the Devon, 28 ounces ; and from the Alderney, 

25 ounces. The Ayrshire yields 5 gallons per day, and from that is produced 34 
ounces of butter. 



THE AYRSHIRES. 61 



Ayrshire cows capable of giving 900 gallons in, the year, it would be 
difficult to bring ten of them together ; and in stocks, the greater 
number most carefully selected and liberally fed, from 650 to 700 
gallons is the very highest produce of each in the year." 

Mr. Rankine, on his own farm, the soil of an inferior nature, pro- 
duced about 550 gallons, and the receipts amounted to only £7 13s. 
6d. per cow. 

We have entered at length into this, because it is of importance to 
ascertain the real value and produce of this breed of cattle. 

The Ayrshire cattle are not yet sufficiently known, and cannot be 
procured cheap enough, or in adequate numbers, to undergo a fair 
trial in the south. Some have been tried in the London dairies. As 
mere milkers, they could not compete with the long-established 
metropolitan dairy cow, the short-horn. They yielded as much 
milk, in proportion to size and food, but not in proportion to the 
room occupied, and the increased trouble which they gave from 
being more numerous, in order to supply the requisite quantity of 
milk. They produced an unusual quantity of rich cream ; but there 
was so much difficulty in procuring them, to keep up the stock, and 
the price asked so great, that they were compartively abandoned. 

The fattening properties of the Ayrshire cattle we believe to be 
exaggerated. They will feed kindly and profitably, and their meat 
will be good. They will fatten on farms and in districts where others 
could not, except supported by artificial food. They unite, perhaps, 
to a greater degree than any other breed, the supposed incompatible 
properties of yielding a great deal of milk and beef. It is, however, 
on the inferior soil and the moist climate of Ayrshire, and the west 
of Scotland, that then* superiority as milkers is most remarkable. On 
their natural food of poor quality they give milk abundantly and 
long, and often until within a few days of calving ; but when they 
are moved to richer pasture, their constitution changes, and they con- 
vert their food more into beef. In their own country, a cow of a 
fleshy make, and which seldom proves a good milker, may be easily 
raised to 40 or 50 stones, and bullocks of three years old are brought 
to weigh from 50 to 60 stones. There is a lurking tendency to fatten 
about them which good pasture will bring forth ; so that when the 
Ayrshire cow is sent to England she loses her superiority as a milker, 
and begins to accumulate flesh. On this account it is that the 
English dealers who purchase the Ayrshire cows generally select the 
coarsest animals, to avoid the consequence of the change of climate 
and food. It is useless to exaggerate the qualities of any cattle, and 
it cannot be denied that even in this tendency to fatten when their 
milk begins to fail, or which often causes it to fail, the Ayrshires 
must yield to their forefathers the Highlanders, and to their neigh- 
bors the Galloways, when put on a poor soil ; and they will be left 
considerably behind their short-horn sires when transplanted to 



62 CATTLE. 

luxuriant pasture. It will be long, perhaps, before they will be 
favorites with the butchers, for the fifth quarter will not usually 
weigh well in them. Their fat is mingled with the flesh rather than 
separated in the form of tallow ; yet this would give a more beautiful 
appearance to the meat, and should enhance its price to the con- 
sumer. 

Two circumstances, however, may partially account for their not 
being thought to succeed so well when grazed : they are not able to 
travel so far on the same keeping as the Highland cattle ; and, from 
their great value as milkers, they are often kept till they are too old 
to fatten to advantage, or for their beef to be of the best quality. 






CHAPTER IV. 

THE POLLED CATTLE. 
THE GALLOWAYS. 

The stewartry of Kircudbright and the shire of Wigton, with a part 
of Ayrshire and Dumfries, formed the ancient province of Galloway. 
The two first counties possess much interest with us as the native 
district of a breed of polled, or dodded, or humble cattle, highly 
valued for its grazing properties. So late as the middle of the last 
century, the greater part of the Galloway cattle were horned — they 
were middle-horns : but some were polled — they were either rem- 
nants of the native breed, or the characteristic of the aboriginal cat- 
tle would be occasionally displayed, although many a generation had 
passed. 

For more than 150 years the surplus cattle of Galloway had been 
sent far into England, and principally into the counties of Norfolk 
and Suffolk. The polled beasts were always favorites with the 
English farmers ; they fattened as kindly as the others, they attained 
a larger size, their flesh lost none of its fineness of grain, and they 
exhibited no wildness and dangerous ferocity which are sometimes 
serious objections to the Highland breed. Thence it happened that, 
in process of time, the horned breed decreased, and was as length 
quite superseded by the polled. 

The agriculture of Galloway and its cattle were much advanced 
by the Earl of Selkirk, and his son, Lord Daer ; and among the most 
zealous and successful improvers of the breed of Galloway cattle 
were the Murrays of Broughton, the Herons of Kirrouchtrie, the 
Gordons of Greenlaw, the Maxwells of Munches, and the Maitlands 
in the valley of Tarff, in Kircudbright ; and in "Wigton, the Earls of 
Galloway, the Maxwells of Mouneith, the McDowals of Logan, the 
Cathcarts of Genoch, the Hathorns of Castle- Wig, and the Stewarts 
of Phygell. 

The Galloway cattle are straight and broad in the back, and 
nearly level from the head to the rump, are round in the ribs, and 
also between the shoulders and the ribs, and the ribs and the loins, 
and broad in the loin, without any large projecting hook bones. In 



64 



CATTLE. 



roundness of barrel and fullness of ribs they will compare with"" any 
breed, and also in the proportion which the loins bear to the hook 
bones, or protuberances of the ribs. When viewed from above, the 
whole body appears beautifully rounded, like the longitudinal section 
of a roller. They are long in the quarters and ribs, and deep in the 
chest, but not broad in the twist. There is less space between the 
hook or hip bones and the ribs than in most other breeds, a considera- 
tion of much importance, for the advantage of length of carcass con- 
sists in the animal being well ribbed home, or as little space as possi- 
ble lost in the flank. 




LEAN GALLOWAY OX. 

The Galloway is short in the leg, and moderately fine in the shank 
bones — the happy medium preserved in the leg, which secures har- 
dihood and disposition to fatten. With the same cleanness and short- 
ness of shank, there is no breed so large and muscular above the 
knee, while there is more room for the deep, broad, and capacious 
chest. He is clean, not fine and slender, but well proportioned in 
the neck and chaps ; a thin and delicate neck would not correspond 
with the broad shoulders, deep chest, and close, compact form of the 
breed. The neck of the Galloway bull is thick almost to a fault. 
The head is rather heavy ; the eyes are not prominent, and the ears 
are large, rough, and full of long hairs on the inside. 

The Galloway is covered with a loose mellow skin of medium 
thickness, which is clothed with long, soft, silky hair. The skin is 



THE POLLED GALLOWAYS. 



63 



thinner than that of the Leicestershire, but not so fine as the hide of 
the short-horn but it handles soft and kindly. 

The prevailing and fashionable color is black — a few are of a dark 
brindle brown, and still fewer speckled with white spots, and some 
of them are of a dun or drab color. Dark colors are uniformly pre- 
ferred, from the belief that they indicate hardiness of constitution. 




GALLOWAY OX IN GOOD CONDITION. 



The breeding of cattle has been, from time almost immemorial, 
the principal object of pursuit with 'the Galloway farmer. The soil 
and face of the country are admirably adapted for this. The soil, 
although rich is dry and healthy. There are many large tracts of 
old grass land, that have not been ploughed during any one's recol- 
lection, and which still maintain their superior fertility ; while the finer 
pastures are thickly covered with natural white clover, and other 
valuable grasses. The surface of the ground is irregular, sometimes 
rising into small globular hills, and at other times into abrupt banks, 
and thus forming small fertile glens, and producing shelter for the 
cattle in the winter and early vegetation in the spring. In the low 
districts there is little frost and snow, but the climate is mild and 



66 CATTLE. 

rather moist ; and thus a languid vegetation is supported during the 
winter, and pastures constantly retain their verdure. 

The young cattle are chiefly bred and reared to a certain age upon 
the higher districts, or upon the inferior lands in the lower grounds. 
A few cows are kept in the richer soils to produce milk, butter, and 
cheese for the families ; but it is found more porfitable to breed and 
rear the cattle upon inferior lands, and afterwards to feed them upon 
the finer ground and the rich old pastures. There would be no ob- 
jection to this if the Galloway farmers would afford their young 
stock a little shelter from the driving blasts of winter. 

The regular Galloway breeders rarely sell any of their calves for 
veal ; which is obtained only from those who keep cows for supply- 
ing the villagers with milk, and from the few dairy farms where 
cows are kept for making cheese. 

The best heifers are retained as breeders, in order to supply the 
place of those whose progeny is not valuable, or who are turned off 
on account of their age. The other female calves are spayed during 
the first year. The spayed heifers are usually smaller than the 
bullocks, but they arrive ■ sooner at maturity ; they fatten readily ; 
their meat is considered more delicate, and, in proportion to their 
size, they sell at higher prices than the bullocks. 




FAT GALLOWAY COW. 



Mr. Culley says, " In Galloway they spay more heifers than per- 
haps in all the island besides, and in this too their method is differ- 



THE POLLED GALLOWAYS. 



07 



ent from any other part I am acquainted with, for they do not cas- 
trate them until they are about a year old." They are now generally 
spayed much earlier than they wed to be, bui some of the breed* i 
adhere to the old custom, 

The young cattle arc rarely housed after the first winter ; they 
are on their pa iture 'lay and night, but in cold weather, they re- 
ceive hay and straw in tin; fields, supporting themselves otherwise on 
the foggage left uneonsumed after the summer grass. Many of the 

fanners are beginning to learn their true interest, and the pastures 
are not so much overstocked in summer as they used to lie, and :> 
portion of herbage is left for the cattle, in the winter; therefore, ;il 
though tin: beasts are not in high condition in the spring, they have 
materially increased in size, and are, in ;i proper state to he, trans 
fen ed to the rich pastures of the lower district. 




GALLOWAY cow. 



The Galloway cows are not good milkers; hut although the 
quantity of the, milk i» not great, it IS rich in quality, and yields a 

large proportion of butter. A cow that gives from twelve to sixteen 

quarts per day is considered very superior, and that quantity pro 
(luce-, more than a pound and a half of butter. The average, how- 
ever, of a Galloway cow cannot he reckoned at more than six or 
eight quarts per day, during the, five summer months after feeding 
her calf. During the next four months she does not rove more than 
half thatquantity, and for two or three months she is dry. 

It has been said that the young Galloway cattle ;ue more expo ed 
than Othen to Bedwater, particularly on grass lands wanting lime. 



68 CATTLE. 

Quarter Evil is also a frequent and fatal disease among these young 
cattle. When the Galloways become two years old, they will yield in 
hardiness to none, and are comparatively exempt from every complaint. 

It has been remarked in this, as in some other breeding districts, 
that cows and heifers of good quality are to be met with everywhere, 
but that it is difficult to find a Galloway bull free from defect. Too 
many breeders have become careless from this circumstance. They 
have been contented with a bull of moderate pretensions, and the form 
and value of their cattle have been depreciated ; yet not to the extent 
that might be feared, for the imperfections of the sire do not always 
appear in the progeny, but the sterling characteristics of the Gallo- 
way cattle break out again, although obscured in one generation. 

A bullock well fattened will weigh from 40 to 60 stones at 3 or 3| 
years old, and some have been fed to more than 100 stones imperial 
weight, at 5 years old. 




mm 

GALLOWAY BULL. 



It has often and truly been remarked, with regard to the Galloway 
cattle, that while in most other breeds of Scotland there may be 
some good beasts, but mingled with others of a different and very 
inferior kind, there is a uniform character, and that of excellence, 
here ; one bullock selected at haphazard may generally be considered 
a fair sample of the lot. The breeders know, from long experience, 



THE POLLED GALLOWAYS. 



what kind of cattle will please the farmers in Norfolk, by whom they 
are chiefly prepared for the London market, and to that kind they 
most carefully adhere. The drover likewise becomes, by his pro- 
fession, an excellent judge of cattle, which he often purchases in 
large lots. He is unable to handle half of them, but long practice 
has taught him to determine at a glance whether they are of equal 
value and will prove good feeders. 

There is, perhaps, no breed of cattle which can be more truly said 
to be indigenous to the country, and incapable of improvement by 
any foreign cross, than the Galloways. The short-horns almost every- 
where else have improved the cattle of the districts to which they 
have traveled ; at least in the first cross produced manifest improve- 
ment ; but even in the first cross, the short-horns have done little 
good in Galloway, and, as a permanent mixture, the choicest southern 
bulls have manifestly failed. The intelligent Galloway breeder is 
now perfectly satisfied that his stock can only be improved by adher- 
ence to the pure breed, and by care in the selection. 

The Galloway cattle are generally very docile. This is a most 
valuable point about them in every respect. It is rare to find even 
a bull furious or troublesome. 

During the last fifty years a very great improvement has taken 
place in the rearing and grazing of cattle in Galloway. Most of the 
great landholders farm a portion of their own estates, and breed and 
graze cattle, and some of them very extensively. Agricultural 
societies have been established in the counties of Kirkcudbright and 
Wigton, and all the land-proprietors, and the greater part of the 
tenants, have become members of them. These societies have been 
enabled to grant numerous premiums for the best management and 
rearing of stock, and the consequence has been very considerable 
improvement in the breed of cattle, on the undeviating principle, 
however, of selection and adherence to the pure breed. 



COMPARATIVE FEEDING PROPERTIES OF THE SCOTS AND DEVONS. 

Francis, Duke of Bedford, in 1795, commenced a series of experi- 
ments to test the feeding properties of the various breeds of cattle ; 
and there were few breeds whose l'elative qualities and value were 
not put fairly to the test at his estate of Woburn Abbey, and one 
breed after another was abandoned, until at his death in 1802, he 
was balancing between the Devons and Herefords. 

His brother, who succeeded him, gave preference to the Herefords 
for feeding, and the West Highlanders for grazing. He abandoned 
the Devons only as not suiting the soil of Woburn. 

The following are experiments made between Devons and West 
Highlanders and Galloways. 



70 CATTLE. 

" Twentj r Devons and twenty Scots were bought in October, 1822, 
and wintered. 

" Ten of each sort were fed in a warm straw-yard upon straw 
alone, but with liberty to run out upon the moor. 

" Ten were fed in a meadow, having hay twice every day until 
Christmas. 

" They afterwards lay in the farm-yard, and had oat-straw and 
hay, cut together into chaff. They were then grazed in different 
fields, equal proportions of each sort being put into the same field. 

" Those that lay in the warm straw-yard with straw' only, were 
ready as soon as the others, although the others had an allowance of 
hay during the winter. 

" Sixteen of each were sold at different times; March 24th, 1824, 
being the last sale. The Scots were ready first, and disposed of be- 
fore the Devons. 

The Scots cost 11. 12s. lOrf. each, amounting to 122/. 5s. 4c?.; they sold £ s. d. 
for 235/. 18s. 6d. Gain by grazing 113 13 2 

The Devons cost 11. 6's. 6d. each, amounting to 117/. 4s., and they sold 
for 250/.; but not being ready, on the average, until between six and 
seven weeks after the Scots, and estimating their keep at 3s. 6d. per 
week each, amounting to 18/. 14s. 6d., and this being subtracted from 
250/., there will remain as the sum actually obtained for them 231/. 5s. 
6J. Gain 114 1 6 



£ 


s. 


d. 


54 


14 





41 


8 


8 


11) 


5 


4 


10 


13 


8 



Making a balance in favor of the Devons of 8 4 

The remaining four of each breed were kept and stall-fed on 
turnips and hay. The Scots sold at 75/., and the Devons at 84/., 
the account of which will be as follows : — 

Four Devons at 11. 6s. 6<i., cost 29/. 6s.; they sold for 84/.; leaving 
gain by stall-feeding 

Four Scots at 11. 12s. 10c/., cost 30/. lis. Ad.; they sold for 75/.; leaving 
gain by stall-feeding 

Making balance in favor of Devons 

Or total balance, adding the above 8s. Ad. in favor of Devons 

This experiment seemed to establish the superiority of the Devons 
for both grazing and for stall-feeding. But as the gain by the four 
stall-fed Devons was half as much as that by the sixteen Scots at 
straw-yard, it was determined that another experiment should be 
made, in which the whole should be fed alike, both at grass and in 
the stall. 

Twenty Scots and twenty Devons were again bought in October, 
and sold at different times, but always in equal number of each at 
each time, the last sale taking place in March. 

The twenty Devons cost 189/. 9s.; they sold for 370/. 17s. 10rf.; leaving £ s. d. 

for feeding 181 8 10 

The twenty Scots cost 212/. 3s.; they sold for 374/. 5s. Id.; leaving for 

feeding 162 1 1 



Balance iu favor of the Devons X19 9 9 



THE ANGUS POLLS. 



71 



Wo condense the second experiment. Two Scots were fed on 
English linseed cakes ; two Devons on unboiled linseed ; two others 
on boiled linseed, and another pair of Devons on foreign, all of them 
having as much hay and chaff as they could eat. It was a losing 
concern in every case ; the value of the manure was not equal to the 
difference of the cost and the selling prices, and strange as it may 
appear, the greatest loss was sustained when the beasts were fed on 
oil cake, the next when foreign cake was used, the next when boiled 
linseed was used, and the least of all when the simple unboiled lin- 
seed was given. 

ANGUS POLLED CATTLE. 

There have always been some polled cattle in Angus ; the country 
people call them humlies or clodded cattle. Their origin is so remote, 
that no account of their introduction into this country can be obtained 
from the oldest farmers or breeders. The attention of some water- 
prising agi-iculturists appears to have been first directed to them 
about sixty years ago, and particularly on the eastern coast, and on 
the boarders of Kincaa-dineshire. Some of the first qualities which 
seem to have attracted the attention of these breeders were the pecu- 
liar quietness and docility of the doddies, the easiness with which 
they wea-e managed, the few losses that were incurred from their in- 
juring each other in their stalls, and the power of disposing of a 
greater number of them in the same space. 




ANGUS OX, FAT. 



72 



CATTLE. 




ANGUS OX, FEEDING. 



A few experiments upon them developed another valuable quality 
— their natural fitness for stall-feeding, and the rapidity with which 
they fattened. This brought them into much repute. 

They have much of the Galloway form, and by those unaccustomed 
to cattle would be often mistaken for the Galloways. A good judge, 
however, would perceive that they are larger, somewhat longer in 
the leg, thinner in the shoulder, and flatter in the side. 

Climate and management have caused another difference between 
the Angus doddies and the Galloways. The Galloways have a 
moist climate ; they have a more robust appearance, a much thicker 
skin, and a rougher coat of hair than the Angus oxen. The Angus 
cattle are regularly kept in straw-yards during six months of the 
year, receiving turnips with their fodder every day, and in summer 
are grazed on diy and warm pastures. By this mode of treatment 
they look and feel more kindly than the Galloways. 

The greater part of them are black, or with a few white spots. 
The next general color is yellow, comprehending the brindled, dark 
red, and silver-colored yellow. They are a valuable breed, and have 
rapidly gained ground on the homed cattle, and become far more 
numerous, particularly in the Lowlands ; and when the agriculturist 
now speaks of the Angus breed, he refers to the polled species. 



THE ANGUS POLLS. 



73 




WW* « 
ANGUS COW, FAT. 

The quantity of milk yielded by the dairy cows is various. In the 
hilly districts from two to three gallons are given per day, but that 
is very rich. In the lowlands the cows will give five gallons during 
the best of the season. The cows of this district were formerly 
regarded as some of the best dairy-cows in Scotland, but since the 
breed has been more improved, and greater attention paid to the 
fattening qualities, they have fallen off in their character for the pail. 
About half of the milk is consumed at home, the rest is made into 
butter and cheese. The butter, as is generally the case in this part 
of Scotland, is good, but the cheese poor and ill-flavored. No oxen 
are used on the road, and few for the plough. 

The Angus polled cattle, like many other breeds, are exceedingly 
valuable in their own climate and on their own soil, but they do not 
answer the expectations of their purchasers when driven south. 
They yielded a good remunerating price, but they are not quite equal 
to their ancestors the Galloways in quickness of feeding, or fineness 
of grain. They attain a larger size, but do not pay the grazier or 
butcher so well. 



74 



CATTLE. 



NORFOLK POLLED CATTLE. 



Until the beginning of the last century, and for some years after- 
ward, the native breed^ of Norfolk belonged to the middle-horns. 
They have, however, been almost superseded by a %)olled breed. 

From a very early period, a great part of the Galloway cattle 
were prepared for the Smithfield market on the pastures of Norfolk 
and Suffolk. Some of the Galloways, accidentally, or selected on 
account of their superior form and quality, remained in Norfolk ; and 
the farmer attempted to neutralize and to rear in his own county a 
breed of cattle so highly valued in the London market. To a cer- 
tain degree he succeeded ; and thus the polled cattle gradually gained 
upon the horned, and became so much more numerous and profitable 
than the old sort, that they began to be regarded as the peculiar 
and native breed of the county. 







NORFOLK COW. 

They retain much of the general form of their ancestors, the Gal- 
loways, but not all their excellencies. They have been enlarged but 
not improved by a southern climate and a richer soil. They are 
usually red ; some, however, are black, or either of these colors 
mixed with white, with a characteristic golden circle about the eye. 
They are taller than the Galloways, but thinner in the chine, fiatter 
in the ribs, longer in the legs, somewhat better milkers, of greater 
weight when fattened, but not fattening so kindly, and the meat not 
quite equal in quality. 



THE POLLED SUFFOLK. 



75 



SUFFOLK. 

The Suffolk Dun used to be celebrated in almost every part of the 
kingdom, on account of the extraordinary quantity of milk that she 
yielded. The dun color is now, however, rarely seen in Suffolk, and 
rejected as an almost certain indication of inferiority. The breed 
is polled. 

The Suffolk, like the Norfolk beast, undoubtedly sprung from the 
Galloway ; but it is shorter in the leg, broader and rounder than the 
Norfolk, with a greater propensity to fatten, and reaching to greater 
weights. 




SUFFOLK COW. 



The prevailing and best colors are red, red and white, brindled, 
and a yellowish cream color. The bull is valued if he is of a pure 
unmingled red color. 

Exaggerated accounts have been given of the milking of the Suf- 
folk cow, and she is not inferior to any other breed in the quantity 
of milk that she yields. In the height of the season some of these 
cows will give as much as 8 gallons of milk in the day ; and 6 gal- 
lons is not an unusual quantity. The produce of butter, however, is 
not in proportion to the quantity of milk. 

The bulls are rarely suffered to live after they are three years 



76 



CATTLE. 



old, however excellent they may be, for the farmer believes that if 
they are kept longer they do not get a stock equally good, and par- 
ticularly that their calves are not so large after that period. Nothing 
can be more erroneous or mischievous. A bull is never in finer con- 
dition than from four to seven years old. 

Having obtained by accident, or by exertion, a good breed of 
milkers, the Suffolk people have preserved them almost by mere 
chance, and without any of the care and attention which their value 
demanded. 




SUFFOLK BULL. 



The Suffolk cow, poor and angular as she may look, fattens with 
a rapidity greater than could be expected from her gaunt appear- 
ance. Whence she obtained the faculty of yielding so much milk, is 
a question that no one has yet solved. Her progenitor, the Galloway, 
has it not. The Holderness could scarcely be concerned ; for more 
than a hundred years ago, the Suffolk dun was as celebrated as a 
milker as the breed of this county is at present, and the Holderness 
had not then been introduced into the county of Suffolk. The fat- 
tening property derived from the northern breed is yet but little 
impaired. The cow is easily fattened to forty or five-and-forty stones, 
(500 to 600 lbs.) and the quality of her meat is excellent. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE IRISH CATTLE. 

Before we enter on the consideration of the two remaining breeds 
of English cattle, the long and the short-horns, we will take a very- 
rapid glance at the Irish cattle. 

They are evidently composed of two distinct breeds ; the middle 
and the long-horns. 

The middle-horns are plainly an aboriginal breed. They are found 
on the mountains and rude parts of the country, in almost every 
district. They are small, light, active, and wild. The head is small, 
although there are exceptions to this in various parts ; and so 
numerous, indeed, are those exceptions, that some describe the native 
Irish cattle as having thick heads and necks ; the horns are short 
compared with the other breed, all of them fine, some of them rather 
upright, and frequently, after projecting forward, then turning back- 
ward. Although somewhat deficient in the hind-quarters, they are 
high-boned, and wide over the hips, yet the bone generally is not 
heavy. The hair is coarse and long ; they are black, brindled, and 
black or brindled, with white faces. Some are finer in the bone, 
and finer in the neck, with a good eye, and sharp muzzle, and great 
activity. 

They are exceedingly hardy ; they live through the winter, and 
sometimes fatten on their native mountains and moors ; and when 
removed to a better climate and soil, they fatten with all the rapidity 
of the aboriginal cattle of the Highlands and Wales. They are gene- 
rally very good milkers, and many of them are excellent. The cow 
of Kerry, a portrait of which is here presented, is a favorable specimen 
of them. 

The cow of Kerry is truly a poor man's cow, living everywhere 
hardy, yielding, for her size, abundance of milk of a good quality, and 
fattening rapidly when required. The slightest inspection of the 
cut will convince the reader of the difference between this breed 
and both the larger and the smaller long-horned Irish one. 

These cattle usually are small, and are confined to the hilly and 
moor grounds. Some are of considerable size, elsewhere, and are 
improved in form as well as in weight. The horns, usually of middle 



78 



CATTLE. 



length, turn up ; as do the horns of those on the mountains ; 
they are shorter in the leg, shorter in the body ; their loins and 
haunches are heavy and wide ; although the hair is thick, the hide is 
mellow, and they thrive with rapidity. 




'^w^u^- - --- — -as— — *i 
KERRY cow. 



This breed is now not to be met with pure, exept inland on the 
mountains ; being nearly worn out elsewhere by the repeated crosses 
with the Leicester, Hereford, and Devon ; but for the dairy, all 
the farmers still prefer those cows with most of the native Irish 
blood. 

The other breed is of a larger size. It is the old or the partially 
improved Graven or Lancashire beast. It is the true long-horn ; the 
horns first taking a direction outward, then forming a curve, and 
returning towards the face, sometimes threatening to pierce the bones 
of the nose, at other times so to cross before the muzzle that the 
animal is unable to graze. 

The following cut represents this large variety of Irish cattle, and 
is evidently identical with the Craven or Lancashire. In Tipperary, 
Limerick, Meath, a great part of Munster, and particularly in Ros- 
common, many of these cattle are found, which are most valuable 
animals. 



IRISH LONG HORNS. 



79 



Whence these long-horns originally came, is a question. There is 
no doubt that they very much resemble the English long-horns, and 
have been materially improved by them ; but whether Ireland or 
England was the native country of this breed, will never be deter- 
mined. Ancient records are silent on the subject; and in both 
countries we can trace the long-horns to a very remote period. 
Many persons have concluded that the English long-horns sprung 
from some of the imported Irish ones. Others, however, with more 
reason, finding the middle-horns in every mountainous and unfre- 
quented part of the country, and the long-homs inhabiting the lower 
and more thickly inhabited districts, regard the middle-horns as the 
pure native breed, and the long-horns to have been a stranger race, 
and introduced probably from Lancashire, where a breed of cattle 
of the same character and form is found. 




IRISH CATTLE. 



However this may be, there was a variety of circumstances which 
rendered the march of improvement much more rapid in England 
than in Ireland. While the British long-horns had materially im- 
proved, those in Ireland had not progressed in the slightest degree. 

More than a century ago, zealous agriculturists in Meath com- 



80 CATTLE. 

menced improvement. Mr. Waller introduced some old Lancashires. 
Sixty years afterwards, was brought over one of the new Leicester 
breed, and there was scarcely a cottager near him that did not 
possess a cow displaying some traces of the Leicester blood. The 
Earl of Bective and Mr. Noble contributed to the improvement of 
the breed in this part of Leland. 

About the same time, Lord Massarene and others introduced some 
fine long-horned cattle into Antrim ; and Lord Farnham into Ca- 
van. In Langford, the Earl of Rosse ; in Clare, Sir Edward O'Brien, 
Mr. Doxon, Mr. Moloney, and Mr. Blood. In Roscommon, the 
Messrs. Finch ; and indeed almost every county and barony of Ire- 
land had its zealous and successful improver of the native breed, 
until, in the richer and more cultivated districts, the cattle became of 
as great a size and as perfect form as any of the midland districts of 
England. 

There are at the present two kinds of these cattle in Ireland, in 
character essentially different ; the larger, which we have described, 
and a smaller, prevailing principally in the north of the island. At 
first view, perhaps, these would appear to be the same cattle, only 
smaller from poor keep and bad management ; but their horns, long 
out of all proportion, clumsy heads, large bones and thick hides, 
bulkiness of dewlap contrasted with their lightness of carcass, in fine, 
an accumulation of defects about them, clearly mark them as being 
of far inferior value. 

In process of time, the English long-horns, although of the im- 
proved Bakewell breed, began to lose ground even in their native 
country ; or rather a rival with higher merits appeared in the field. 
The short-horns began to attract the attention of the breeder ; and 
their propensity to fatten, and earlier maturity, soon became evident. 
There were not wanting spirited agriculturists in Ireland, who quick- 
ly availed themselves of this new mode of improving the Hibernian 
cattle. Sir Henry Vane Tempest was one of the first who introduced 
the short-horn bull. The improvement effected by the first cross 
was immediately evident in the early maturity of the progeny. The 
pure short-horn, or this cross with the long-horn, weighed as much 
at three years old as the pure long-horn used to do at five. But the 
first experiment in a great degree failed. 

The reputation of the short-horn, however, becoming more spread 
in England, other attempts were made to introduce him into Ireland, 
and the experiments were more systematically conducted. And 
great improvement has been effected in the Irish cattle of late 
years, by the importation of the Durham breed. They have dis- 
placed a cross of the long-horn Leicester on the Irish cow, and the 
farmers of the country now prefer a cross of the Durham bull on the 
Irish cow, to the pure breed, as being less delicate, and giving a 
richer and greater quantity of milk. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE LONG-HORNS. 



In the district of Craven, a fertile corner of the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, there has been, from the earliest records of British agri- 
culture, a peculiar and valuable breed of cattle. They were distin- 
guished from the home-breds of other counties by a disproportionate 
and frequently unbecoming length of horn. In the old breed this 
horn frequently projected nearly horizontally on either side, but as 
the cattle were improved the horn assumed other directions ; it hung 
down so that the animal could scarcely graze, or it curved so as to 
threaten to meet before the muzzle, and so also as to prevent the 
beast from grazing ; or immediately under the jaw, and so to lock the 
lower jaw ; or the points presented themselves against the bones of 
the nose and face, threatening to perforate them. In proportion as 
the breed became improved, the horns lengthened, and they are 
characteristically distinguished by the name of " The Long-Horns." 
Cattle of a similar description were found in the districts of Lanca- 
shire bordering on Craven, and also in the south-eastern parts of 
Westmoreland ; but tradition in both of these districts pointed to 
Craven as the original habitation of the long-horn breed. If there 
•gradually arose any difference between them, it was that the Craven 
beasts were the broadest in the chine, the shortest, the handsomest, 
and the quickest feeders ; the Lancashire ones were larger, longer in 
the quarters, but with a fall behind the shoulders, and not so level 
on the chine. 

Whence these cattle were derived was and still is a disputed point. 

The long horns seem to have first appeared in Craven, and 
gradually to have spread along the western coast, and to have occu- 
pied almost exclusively the midland counties. 

There are two distinct breeds ; the smaller Cravens inhabiting the 
mountains and moorlands, hardy, useful, valued by the cottager and 
little farmer on account of the cheapness with which they are kept, 
the superior quantity and excellent quality of the milk which they 
yield, and the aptitude with which they fatten when removed to 
better pasture. The larger Cravens, occupying a more level and 
richer pasture, are fair milkers, although in proportion to their size 
4* 



82 



CATTLE. 



not equal to the others ; but possess a tendency to fatten and acquire 
extraordinary bulk, scarcely inferior to that of short-horns. 

As either of these found their way to other districts, they mingled 
to a greater or less degree with the native cattle, or they felt the 
influence of change of climate and soil, and gradually adapted them- 
selves to their new situation ; and each assumed a peculiarity of form 
which characterized it as belonging to a certain district, and rendered 
it valuable and almost perfect there. The Cheshire, the Derbyshire, 
the Nottinghamshire, the Staffordshire, the Oxfordshire, and the 
Wiltshire cattle were all essentially long-horns, but each had its dis- 
tinguishing feature, which seemed best to fit it for its situation, and 
the purposes for which it was bred. Having assumed a decided 
character, varying only with peculiar local circumstances, the old 
long-horns, like the Devons, the Herefords, and the Scotch, continued 
nearly the same. There is no authentic detail of their distinguishing 
points. From hints given by old writers, we may conclude that some 
of them at least were characterized by their roundness and length of 
carcass, coarseness of bone, thickness and yet mellowness of hide, and 
the rich quality although not abundant quantity of their milk. 




OLD CRAVEN LONG-HORN BULL. 



THE LONG-HORNS. 83 



Here were evident materials for some skillful breeder to work upon ; 
a connection of excellencies and defects by no means inseparable. That 
which was good might be rendered more valuable, and the alloy- 
might be easily thrown off. It was not, however, until about the 
year 1*720 that any agriculturist possessed sufficient science and 
spirit to attempt improvement in good earnest. A blacksmith and 
farrier, of Linton, in Derbyshire, on the very borders of Leicestershire, 
who rented a little farm, has the honor of standing first on the list. 
His name was Welby. He had a valuable breed of cows, which 
came from Drakelow house, a seat of Sir Thomas Gresley, on the 
banks of the Trent, about a mile from Burton. He prided himself 
much in them, and they deserved the care which he took in improving 
them and keeping the breed pure ; but a disease, which defied all 
remedial measures, carried off the greater part of them, thus half 
ruining Welby, and putting a stop to his speculations. 

Soon after this Mr. Webster, of Canley, near Coventry, distinguished 
himself as a breeder. He too worked upon Sir Thomas Gresley's 
stock, some of whose cows he brought with him when he first settled 
at Canley. He procured bulls from Lancashire and Westmoreland, 
and is said to have had the best stock of cattle then known. One of 
his admirers says that " he possessed the best stock, especially of 
beace, that ever were, or ever will be bred in the kingdom." This is 
high praise, and is evidence of the excellent quality of Mr. Webster's 
breed. 

It is much to be regretted that we have such meagre accounts of 
the proceedings of the early improvers of cattle. Little more is 
known of Mr. Webster than that he established the Canley breed, 
some portion of whose blood flowed in every improved long-horn 
beast. 

The bull, Bloxedge, (the Hubback of the long-homs,) indebted to 
accident for the discovery of his value, was out of a three-year old 
heifer of Mr. Webster's, by a Lancashire bull, belonging to a neigh- 
bor. When a yearling, he was so unpromising that he was discarded 
and sold to a person of the name of Bloxedge, (hence the name of 
the beast,) but turning out a remarkably good stock-getter, Mr, 
Webster re-purchased him, and used him for several seasons. 

Now appeared the chief improver of the long-horns, to whom 
his cotemporaries and posterity have adjudged the merit of creating 
as it were a new breed of cattle. It is a disgrace to the agriculture 
of the times that Bakewell should have been suffered to pass awav 
without some authentic record of the principles that guided him, and 
the means by which his objects were accomplished. 

The only memoir we have of Robert Bakewell is a fugitive paper 
in the Gentleman's Magazine, from which every writer has borrowed. 
Robert Bakewell was born at Dishley, in Leicestershire, about 1725. 
Having remarked that domestic animals in general produced others 



84 CATTLE. 

possessing qualities nearly similar to their own, he conceived that he 
had only to select from the most valuable breeds such as promised 
to return the greatest possible emolument, and that he should then 
be able, by careful attention to progressive improvement, to produce 
a breed whence he could derive a maximum of advantage. He 
made excursions into different parts of England, in order to inspect 
the different breeds, and to select those that were best adapted to his 
purpose, and the most valuable of their kind ; and his residence and 
his early habits disposed him to give the preference to the long-horn 
cattle. 

We have no account of the precise principles which guided him 
in the various selections which he made ; but Mr. Marshall, who says 
that he " was repeatedly favored with opportunities of making ample 
observations on Mr. Bakewell's practice, and with liberal communica- 
tions from him on all rural subjects," gives us some clue. He speaks 
of the general principles of breeding, and when he does this in con- 
nection with the name of Bakewell, we shall not be very wrong in 
concluding that these were the principles by which that great agri- 
culturist Avas influenced. 

" The most general principle is beauty of form. It is observable, 
however, that this principle was more closely attended to at the out- 
set of improvement (under an idea, in some degree falsely grounded, 
that the beauty of form and utility are inseparable) than at present, 
when men, who have long been conversant in practice, make a dis- 
tinction between a " useful sort" and a sort which is merely " hand- 
some." 

" The next principle attended to is a proportion of parts, or what 
may be called utility of form, in distinction from beauty of form ; 
thus the parts which are deemed offal, or which bear an inferior 
price at market, should be small in proportion to the better parts. 

" A third principle of improvement is the texture of the muscular 
parts, or what is termed flesh, a quality of live stock which, familiar 
as it may long have been to the butcher and the consumer, had not 
been sufficiently attended to by breeders, whatever it might have 
been by graziers. This principle involved the fact that the grain of 
the meat depended wholly on the breed, and not, as had been before 
considered, on the size of the animal. But the principle which 
engrossed the greatest share of attention, and which, above all others, 
is entitled to the grazier's attention, is fattening quality, or a natural 
propensity to acquire a state of fatness at an early age, when in 
full keep, and in a short space of time ; a quality which is clearly 
found to be hereditary." 

Therefore, in Bakewell's opinion, everything depended on breed ; 
and the beauty and utility of the form, the quality of the flesh, and 
the propensity to fatness, were, in the offspring, the natural conse- 
quence of similar qualities in the parents. His whole attention was 



THE LEICESTER LONG-HORNS 85 

centered in these four points ; and he never forgot that they were 
compatible with each other, and might be occasionally found united 
in the same individual. 

Improvement had hitherto been attempted by selecting females 
from the native stock of the country, and crossing them with males 
of an alien breed. Mr. Bakewell's good sense led him to imagine 
that the object might better be accomplished by uniting the superior 
branches of the same breed, than by any mixture of foreign ones. 

On this new and judicious principle he started. He purchased 
two long-horn heifers from Mr. Webster, and he procured a promis- 
ing long-horn bull from Westmoreland. To these, and their progeny, 
he confined himself; coupling them as he thought he could best in- 
crease or establish some excellent point, or speedily remove a faulty 
one. 

As his stock increased, he was enabled to avoid the injurious 
and enervating consequence of breeding too closely "in and in." 
The breed was the same, but he could interpose a remove or two 
between the members of the same family. He could preserve all 
the excellences of the breed, without the danger of deterioration ; 
and the rapidity of the improvement which he effected was only 
equaled by its extent. 

Many years did not pass before his stock was unrivaled for the 
roundness of its form, and the smallness of its bone, and its aptitude 
to acquire external fat ; while they were small consumers of food in 
proportion to their size ; but, at the same time, their qualities as 
milkers were very considerably lessened. The grazier could not too 
highly value the Dishley, or new Leicester long-horn, but the dairy- 
man, and the little farmer, clung to the old breed, as most useful 
for their purpose. 

It was his grand maxim, that the bones of an animal intended for 
food could not be too small, and that the fat, being the most valua- 
ble part of the carcass, could, consequently, not be too abundant. In 
pursuance of this leading theory, by inducing a preternatural small- 
ness of bone, and rotundity of carcass, he sought to cover the bones 
of all his animals, externally, with masses of fat. Thus, the entirely 
new Leicester breed, from their excessive tendency to fatten, produce 
too small a quantity of eatable meat, and that, too, necessarily of in- 
ferior flavor and quality. They are in general found defective in 
weight, proportionably to their bulk, and, if not thoroughly fattened, 
their flesh is crude and without flavor ; while, if they be so, their 
carcasses produce little else but fat, a very considerable part of 
which must be sold at an inferior price, to make candles instead of 
food, not to forget the very great waste that must ever attend the 
consumption of over-fattened meat. 

This great and sagacious improver, very justly disgusted at the 
sight of those huge, gaunt, leggy, and misshapen animals with which 



86 CATTLE. 

his vicinity abounded, and which scarcely any length of time or 
quantity of food would thoroughly fatten, determined upon raising a 
more sightly and a more profitable breed ; yet, rather unfortunately, 
his zeal impelled him to the opposite extreme. Having carefully, 
and at much cost, raised a variety of cattle, the chief merit of which 
is to make fat, he has apparently laid his disciples and successors 
under the necessity of substituting another that will make lean. 

Mr. Bakewell had many prejudices opposed to him, and many 
difficulties to surmount, and it is not therefore to be wondered at if 
he was more than once involved in considerable embarrassment ; but 
he lived to see the perfect success of his undertaking. 

He died when verging on his seventieth year. His countenance 
bespoke activity and a high degree of benevolence. His manners 
were frank and pleasing, and well calculated to maintain the exten- 
sive popularity he had acquired. His hospitality to strangers was 
bounded only by his means. 

Many anecdotes are related of his humanity towards the various 
tribes of animals under his management. He would not suffer the 
slightest act of cruelty to be perpetrated by any of his servants, and 
he sternly deprecated the barbarities practised by butchers and dro- 
vers ; showing, by examples on his own farm, the most pleasing in- 
stances of docility in every animal. 

Mr. Bakewell's celebrated bull Twopenny was the produce of the 
Westmoreland bull, out of old Comely, one of the two heifers pur- 
chased from Mr. Webster; therefore he was, by the side of his dam, 
a direct descendant of the Canley blood. 

Mr. Bakewell had afterwards a more valuable bull than this, 
named D. He retained him principally for his own use, except that 
he was let for part of a season to Mr. Fowler, and that a few cows 
were brought to him at five guineas a cow. He was got by a son 
of Twopenny, out of a daughter and sister of the same bull, she be- 
ing the produce of his own dam. 

Starting a few years afterwards, and rivaling Mr Bakewell in the 
value of his cattle, was Mr. Fowler of Rollwright, in Oxfordshire. 
His cows were of the Canley breed ; most of them having been pur- 
chased from Mr. Bakewell ; and his bull Shakspeare, the best stock- 
getter that the long-horn breed ever possessed, was got by D, out of 
a daughter of Twopenny, and therefore of pure Canley blood. 

Mr. Marshall gives the following description of this bull, and very 
interesting and instructive it is. It is a beautiful explication of 
some of the grand principles of breeding. " This bull is a striking 
specimen of what naturalists term accidental varieties. Though bred 
in the manner that has been mentioned, he scarcely inherits a single 
point of the long-horned breed, his horns excepted. In 1 784, then 
six years old, and somewhat below his usual condition, though by 
no means low in flesh, he was of this description. 



THE LEICESTER. LONG-HORNS. 87 

" His head, chap and neck remarkably fine and clean ; his chest 
extraordinarily deep — his brisket down to his knees. His chine thin, 
and rising above the shoulder-blades, leaving a hollow on each side 
behind them. His loin, of course, narrow at the chine ; but remark- 
ably wide at the hips, which protuberate in a singular manner. His 
quarters long in reality, but in appearanco short, occasioned by a 
singular formation of the rump. At first sight it appears as if the 
tail, which stands forward, had been severed, one of the vertebrae 
extracted, and the tail forced up to make good the joint ; an appear- 
ance, which, on examining, is occasioned by some remarkable 
wreaths of fat formed round the setting on of the tail ; a circum- 
stance which in a picture would be a deformity, but as a point is 
in the highest estimation. The round bones snug, but the thighs 
rather full and remarbably let down. The legs short and their 
bone fine. The carcass, throughout, (the chine excepted) large, 
roomy, deep, and well spread. 

" His horns apart, he had every point of a Holderness or a Tees- 
water bull. Could his horns have been changed, he would have 
passed in Yorkshire as an ordinary bull of cither of those breeds. 
His two ends would have been thought tolerably good, but his 
middle very deficient ; but being put to cows deficient where he 
was full, (the lower part of the thigh excepted,) and full where he 
was deficient, he has raised the long-horned breed to a degree of 
perfection which, without so extraordinary a prodigy, they never 
might have reached." 

No wonder that a form so uncommon should strike the improv- 
ers of this breed of stock, or that points they had been so long 
striving in vain to produce should be rated at a high price. His 
owner was the first to estimate his worth, and could never be in- 
duced to part with him except to Mr. Princep, who hired him for 
two seasons, at the then unusual price of eighty guineas a season. 
He covered until he was ten years old, but then became paralytic 
and useless. 

At a public sale of Mr. Fowler's cattle, 1*791, the following prices 
were given for some of the favorite beasts — a sufficient proof of 
the estimation in which the improved Leicesters were then held : 

Bulls. — Garrick, five years old, £250 ; Sultan, two years old, £230 ; 
Washington, two years old, £215 ; A, by Garrick, one year old, 
£157; Young Sultan, one year old, .£210; E, by Garrick, one 
year old, £152. 

Cows. — Brindled Beauty, by Shakspeare, £273 ; Sister to,Garrick, 
£120 ; Nell, by Garrick, £136; Young Nell, by brother of Garrick, 
£ 1 2G ; Black Heifer, £141; Dam of Washington, £ 1 94. Fifty breed 
of cattle produced £4,289 4s. Gd. 

Another improver of the long-horns was Mr. Princep of Croxall, in 
Derbyshire, lie was supposed at that time to have the best dairy 



8a 



CATTLE. 



of long-horn cows in the whole of the midland counties. He origi- 
nally bred them from a cow of the name of Bright, who was got by 
Mr. Webster's Bloxedge, the father of the Canley blood, and he much 
improved his breed through the medium of Shakspeare. It was 
remarked, that every cow and heifer of the Shakspeare blood could 
be recognized at first sight as a descendant of his. 

What was the result of all these combined efforts? Was a breed 
produced worthy of the talents and zeal of all these skillful agricul- 
turists ? On the Leicestershire cattle, and in particular districts in 
the neighboring counties, the change was great and advantageous, so 
far as the grazing and fattening, and especially the early maturity of 
the animals, were concerned. 







-,'A-J- 



C-^>" 



NEW LEICESTER LONG-HORN BULL. 



What is now become of this improved long-horn breed ? Where 
is it to be found ? It was a bold and a successful experiment. It 
seemed for a while to answer the most sanguine expectation of these 
scientific and spirited breeders. In the districts in which the experi- 
ments were carried on, it established a breed of cattle equaled by 
few, and excelled by none but the Herefords. It enabled the long- 
horns to contend, and often successfully, with the heaviest and best 



THE LEICESTER LONG-HORNS. 



of the middle-horns. It did more ; it improved, and that to a 
material degree, the whole breed of long-horns. The Lancashire, the 
Derbyshire, the Staffordshire cattle became, and still are, an improved 
race ; they got rid of a portion of their coarse bone. They began to 
gain their flesh and fat on the more profitable points, they acquired a 
somewhat earlier maturity, and, the process of improvement not being- 
carried too far, the very dairy-cattle obtained a disposition to convert 
their aliment into milk while milk was wanted, and, after that, to use 
the same nutriment for the accumulation of flesh and fat. The mid- 
land counties will always have occasion to associate a feeling of 
respect and gratitude with the name of Bakewell. 




NEW LEICESTER LOXG-HORN COW. 



Mr. Marshall thus describes the improved Leicesters in his own 
time, which was that of Bakewell, Princep, and Fowler. 

" The forend long ; but light to a degree of elegance. The neck 
thin, the chap clean, the head fine, but long and tapering. 

" The eye large, bright and prominent. 

" The horns vary with the sex, &c. Those of bulls are compara- 
tively short, from fifteen inches to two feet ; those of the few oxen that 
have been reared of this breed are extremely large, being from two 
and a half to three and a half feet long ; those of the cows nearly as 
long, but much finer, tapering to delicately fine points. Most of them 



90 CATTLE. 

hang downward by the side of the cheeks, and then, if well turned, 
as many of the cows are, shoot forward, at the points. 

" The shoulders remarkably fine and thin, in bone ; but thickly 
covered with flesh — not the smallest protuberance of bone. 

" The girth small, compared with the short-horn and middle-horn 
breeds. 

" The chine remarkably full when fat, but hollow when low in con- 
dition." 

This is considei-ed by accurate judges to be a criterion of good 
mellow flesh. The large hard ligaments, (the continuation of the 
ligaments of the neck, united with those of the vertebree of the spine 
itself,) which in some individuals, when in low condition, stretch 
tightly along the chine, from the setting on of the neck to the fore 
part of the loins, is said to be a mark of the flesh being of a bad 
quality. They are only proofs of great strength in the spine, and, 
probably, in the animal generally ; and indicating that the meat will 
be sinewy and tough. 

" The loin broad, and the hip remarkably wide and protuberant." 

A wide loin, with projections of fat on the hips, may be desirable ; 
but there can be neither beauty nor use in the protuberance of the 
tuberosities of the bone. A full hip may be of advantage, but 
scarcely a protuberant one. 

" The quarters long and level ; the nache of a middle width, and 
the tail set on variously, even in individuals of the highest repute. 

" The round-bones small, but the thighs in general fleshy ; tapering, 
however, when in the best form toward the gambrels. 

" The legs small and clean, but comparatively long. The feet in 
general neat, and of the middle size. 

" The carcass as nearly a cylinder as the natural form will allow. 
The ribs standing out full from the spine. The belly small. 

" The flesh seldom fails of being of the first quality. 

" The hide of a middle thickness. 

" The color various ; the- brindle, the finch-back, and the pye, are 
common. The lighter, the better they are esteemed. 

" The fattening quality of this improved breed, in a state of ma- 
turity, is indisputably good. 

" As grazier's stock, they undoubtedly rank high. The principle 
of the utility of form has been strictly attended to. The bone and 
offal are small, and the forend light ; while the chine, the loin, the 
rump and the ribs are heavily loaded, and with flesh of the finest 
quality. In point of early maturity, they have also materially 
gained. In general, they have gained a year in preparation for the 
butcher ; and although perhaps not weighing so heavy as they did 
before, the little diminution of weight is abundantly compensated, by 
the superior excellence of the meat, its earlier readiness and the 
smaller quantity of food consumed. 



THE LEICESTER LONG-HORNS. 



91 



" As dairy-stock, it does not admit of doubt that their milking quali- 
ties have been very much impaired. 

" As beasts of draught, their general form renders them unfit ; yet 
many of them are sufficiently powerful, and they are more active 
than some other breeds used for the plough, or on the road ; but 
the horns generally form an insuperable objection to this use of 
them." 




THE LONG-HORN FEEDING OX. 



But what is become of Bakewell's improved long-horn breed ? A 
veil of mystery was thrown over most of his proceedings, which not 
even his friend Mr. Marshall was disposed to raise. The principle 
on which he seemed to act, breeding so completely " in and in" was 
a novel, a bold, and a successful one. Some of the cattle to which 
we have referred were very extraordinary illustrations, not only of 
the harmlessness, but the manifest advantage of such a system ; but 
he had a large stock on which to work ; and no one knew his occa- 
sional deviations from this rule, nor his skillful interpositions of remoter 
affinities, when he saw or apprehended danger. 

The truth of the matter is, that the master spirits of that day had 
no sooner disappeared, than the character of this breed began imper- 
ceptibly to change. It had acquired a delicacy of constitution,' in- 
consistent with common management and keep ; and it began slowly, 
but undeniably, to deteriorate. Many of them had been bred to that 



92 



CATTLE. 



degree of refinement, that the propagation of the species was not 
always certain. 

In addition to this, a powerful rival appeared in the field, the 
Bhort-horns of the Tees. They presented equal aptitude to fatten, 
and greater bulk and earlier maturity. 

Westmoreland was the native land of the long-horns. Webster 
brought thence the father of the Canley stock ; and Bakewell sought 
the father of his breed there : but even in Westmoreland the short- 
horns appeared ; they spread ; they established themselves ; in a man- 
ner superseded the long-horns. They found their way to southern 
districts ; they mingled with the native breeds ; a cross from them 
generally bestowed increase of milk, aptitude to fatten, and early 
maturity. It is true, that a frequent recourse to the short-horn was 
generally necessary in order to retain these advantages, but these 
advantages were bestowed, and might be retained, except in a few 
districts, and for some particular purposes. Thus they gradually 
established themselves everywhere ; they were the grazing cattle of 
the large farmer and the gentleman, and another variety of them 
occupied the dairy. The benefits conferred by the improved long- 
horns remained, but the breed itself gradually diminished ; in some 
places it almost disappeared ; and at the present moment, and even 
in Leicestershire, the short-horns are fast driving the long-horns from 

the field. 

DERBYSHIRE. 




DKIUiY COW. 



THE DERBY BREED. 



93 



The preceding cut is a faithful portrait of one of the best of them. 
The horns are altogether characteristic. 

The Derbyshire cows were originally long-horns ; and although of 
a somewhat inferior breed, they were very useful animals, and espe- 
cially in the dairies of this county, the cheese of which has long been 
admired. What cross gave them their peculiar character, and espe- 
cially their singular horns, it is now impossible to determine. The 
head was frequently thick and heavy, the chops and neck foul, the 
bone too large, the hide heavy, and the hair long ; even the bag was 
often overgrown and covered with hair — a circumstance very objec- 
tionable to the dairyman ; they were little disposed to take on flesh 
and fat, yet they were excellent dairy cows. 




DERBY BULL. 

This cut gives a faithful representation of the old Derby bull. 
This breed, however, has gradually died away, and it is comparatively 
seldom that a pure Derby can now be met with. The short-horns 
have taken possession of this portion of the territory of the long-horns 
also, and there are few dairy farmers now, and especially in the 
neighborhood of Derby, that have any long-horns in their dairies ; 
and yet it is confidently asserted that some cows of the ancient 
stock have yielded as much as seventeen pounds of butter in a 
week. 



94 



CATTLE. 



THE SHROPSHIRE CATTLE. 



The old Shropshire cattle, with a cut of one of which we are 
enabled to present our readers, was of a long-horn hardy kind — of 
all colors, but generally brown mixed with bay and white, and with 
a streak of white running along the back and under the belly. They 
were raw-boned, cow-legged, and far from being handsome. They 
were, however, good milkers and fit for the dairy. 




THE OLD SHROPSHIRE OX. 



Very few of the old sort are now left, but a cross between the 
Shropshire and the Holderness has been established, by which in- 
crease of size has been obtained, hardihood, and a greater quantity 
of milk. They are very docile ; and when red or spotted they are 
in great request : the spotted are accounted the most valuable. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SHORT-HORNS. 

This account of the Short-Horns is by the Rev. Henry Berry, 
than whom there were few more zealous breeders of cattle. 

It must be admitted that the short-horns present themselves to 
notice under circumstances of peculiar interest. Possessing in an 
eminent degree qualities which have generally been considered in- 
compatible, and attractive to the eye by their splendid frames and 
beautifully varied colors, it is not surprising that they have become 
objects of public curiosity ; that they have realized for their breeders 
enormous sums ; and that, in our own island, and in every foreign 
country where agriculture is attended to, they are in increasing de- 
mand. 

It might tend to throw much light on the science of breeding, 
could these animals be traced, in their improvement, to an earlier 
period than has been found possible. 

From the earliest periods as to which we have any accounts of our 
breeds of cattle, the counties of Durham and York have been cele- 
brated for their short-horns, but principally, in the first instance, on 
account of their reputation as extraordinary milkers.* It may be 
asserted, on the best evidence, that, as a breed, they have never in 
this particular been equaled. They were generally of large size, 
thin-skinned, sleek-haired, bad handlers, rather delicate in constitu- 
tion, coarse in the offal, and strikingly defective in girth in the fore- 
quarters. As milkers, they were most excellent ; but when put to 
fatten, were found slow feeders; producing an inferior meat, not 
marbled or mixed fat and lean, and in some cases the lean was found 
of a particularly dark hue. 

A period of more than one hundred years has now elapsed since 
the short-horns, on the banks of the river Tees, hence called the 
Teeswater breed, had assumed a very different character to the fore- 

* Before this a large and valuable description of cattle had existed on the western 
coast of the continent of Europe, and extending from Denmark to the confines of 
France. They were celebrated for the great quantities of milk which they yielded, 
and some of them exhibited an extraordinary aptitude to fatten. At what particular 
time they found their way to England, or by whom they were imported, is unknown; 
but there is a tradition that, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a bull and 
some cows were introduced into Holdernoss. — Yovatt. 



96 



CATTLE. 



going description. In color, they resembled the short-horns of the 
present day, being occasionally red, red and white, and roan, though 
the last not then so prevalent as now. They possessed a fine mellow 
skin and flesh, good hair, and light offal, particularly wide carcasses, 
and fore-quarters of extraordinary depth and capacity. When 
slaughtered, their proof was extraordinary, and many instances are 
recorded of the wonderful weight of their inside fat. 




AN OLD STYLE TEESWATER BULL. 

The remarkable merit which existed in the Teeswater may, 
with propriety, be ascribed to a spirit of improvement which had 
some time manifested itself among the breeders on the banks of the 
Tees, whose laudable efforts were well seconded by the very superior 
land in the vicinity of that river. No doubt can be entertained that 
they proceeded on a judicious system of crossing with other breeds, 
because it was utterly impossible to raise such a stock as the Tees- 
water from pure short-horn blood. One cross to which they referred 
was, in all probability, the white wild breed ; and if this conjecture 
be well-founded, it will be apparent whence the short-horns derived 
a color so prevalent among them. 

It is also asserted that, about the period in question, Sir William 
St. Quintin, of Scampston, imported bulls and cows from Holland, 
which were crossed with the stock of the country. It would tend to 



THE SHORT-HORNS. 97 



little advantage to conjecture as to what other hreeds were resorted 
to, if any : this much is certain, that great improvement was soon 
manifested, and a valuable variety established, as the two following 
instances will prove. 

Mr. Milbank, of Barmingham, bred and slaughtered an ox, which, 
at five years old, weighed four quarters, one hundred and fifty 
stones, (2114 lbs.) of fourteen pounds to the stone, producing six- 
teen stones of tallow ; and a cow bred from his stock, slaughtered 
by Mr. Sharter, of Chilton, at twelve years old, weighed upwards of 
one hundred and ten stones. (1540 lbs.) 

From Mr. Mil bank's time, the Tees water cattle continued to sus- 
tain their excellence and celebrity in various hands, until Mr. Charles 
Colling adopted them. 

Whatever had been the merits of the Teeswater cattle, it is cer- 
tain Mr. Colling greatly improved them ; and though it has been 
asserted that his success was the result of chance, arising from the 
possession of an animal, with the merits of which he was at one pe- 
riod unacquainted, the writer of this article is of opinion that Mr. 
Colling's success resulted from a deliberate and well-considered plan. 
He found the Teeswater, like all other extravagantly large cattle, 
frequently of loose make and disproportion. He was sensible, also, 
of the difficulty of breeding, with anything like certainty, large good 
animals ; and though he has declined on all occasions to throw any 
light on his views and proceedings, the writer thinks he can detect, 
in the very outset, and through the progress of his practice, a reso- 
lution to reduce the size of this breed, and at the same time, and by 
that means, to improve its form. This he is supposed to have effected, 
in the first instance, through the medium of a bull, called Hubback, 
an animal respecting which there has been much controversy, princi- 
pally touching the purity of his blood, a question now of little im- 
portance, because it is admitted on all hands that Mr. Colling 
adopted another cross, which prevails in a majority of superior short- 
horns of the present day. It may, notAvithstanding, be matter of 
interest to state a few particulars respecting this bull. 

Without entering on an inquiry by what circumstances Hubback's 
title to be considered of pure blood is supported or weakened, it may 
suffice to observe, that it appears probable he possessed on one side 
the imported blood. The possessor of his dam was a person in in- 
digent circumstances, and grazed his cow in the highways. When 
afterwards she was removed to good land, near Darlington, she be- 
came so fat that she did not again breed ; and her son, having the 
same feeding propensity in a high degree, was useful as a bull during 
a very short period. The quality of his flesh, hide, and hair are 
supposed to have been seldom equaled ; and as he was smaller than 
the Teeswater cattle, he was eminently calculated to forward Mr. 



98 CATTLE. 

Colling's views. There are no superior short-horns which do not 
claim descent nearly, or remotely, from Hubback.* 

After the use of this bull, Mr. Charles Colling proceeded with 
success to produce superior animals ; and the number of bulls he 
disposed of by letting was highly encouraging. But the circum- 
stance which brought the short-horns into most extensive notice was 
the production of the Durham Ox, an animal- which speaks volumes 
in favor of this blood. The ox was the produce of a cow which had 
been put to Favorite. At five years old, the Durham ox was sold 
to Mr. Bulmer, of Harmby, near Bedale, for public exhibition, for 
140/. in February, 1801. He was at that time computed to weigh 
168 stones, of 14 lb., (2352 lbs.), his live weight being 216 stones, 
(3024 lbs.) and this extraordinary weight did not arise from his su- 
perior size, but from the excessive ripeness of his points. Mr. Bul- 
mer traveled with him five weeks, and then sold him and his car- 
riage, at Rotherham, to Mr. John Day, on the 14th May, 1801, for 
250/. On the 14th of May, Mr. Day could have sold him for 525/. 
On the 13th of June, for 1000/. On the 8th of July, for 2000/. 

Mr. Day traveled with him nearly six years, through England and 
Scotland, till at Oxford, on the 19th February, 1807, the ox dis- 
located his hip-bone, and continued in that state till the 15th April, 
when he was obliged to be slaughtered, and, notwithstanding he 
must have lost considerably in weight, during these eight weeks of 
illness, his carcass weighed — Four quarters, 165 stones 12 lbs. (2322 

* This is true, because Hubback was the sire of the dam of Mr. Charles Colling's 
bull, Foljambe, who was the grandsire of Favorite ; and there has not been for many 
years any superior short-horn not descended from Favorite. Mr. Charles Colling ia 
said to have considered that the bull, Foljambe, was the one who did his stock the 
greatest good ; and this is not improbable, as Foljambe was the sire both of the sire 
and dam of Favorite. Hubback, however, must have been a remarkably good 
animal, and considering the short time during which he was used by Colling, proved 
himself a first-rale stock-getter. 

The following account of Hubback we had from Mr. Waistell, of Alihill, who, 
although his name does not appear conspicuously in the Short-Horned Herd Book, 
deserves much credit for his discrimination here. He used to admire this bull as he 
rode by the meadow in which he grazed ; and at length attempted to purchase him. 
The price asked, 8/., seemed much, and the bargain was not struck. Still he longed 
for the beast ; and happening to meet Mr. liobert Colling near the place, asked his 
opinion of the animal. Mr. Colling acknowledged that there were good points about 
him ; but his manner induced Mr. Waistell to suspect that Mr. Colling thought 
more highly of the bull than his language expressed, and he hastened the next morn- 
ing, concluded the bargain, and paid the money. He had scarcely done so before Mr. 
R. Colling arrived for the same purpose, and as the two farmers rode home together, 
they agreed that it should be a joint speculation. 

Some months passed by, and either Mr. Waistell's admiration of the bull cooled, 
or his partner did not express himself very warmly about the excellences of the 
animal, and Messrs. Waistell and R. Colling transferred Hubback to Mr. C. Col- 
ling, who, with the qnick eye of an experienced breeder, saw the value of the beast. 
Mr. Waistell expressed to us (October, 1832) his regret (natural enough) at having 
been induced to part with him, and his extreme disappointment that when Hubback 
began to cover, Mr. Charles Colling confined him to his own stock, and would not let 
him serve even one of Mr. Waistell's cows. — Yuuatt. 



THE SHORT-HORNS. 



lbs.) ; Tallow, 11 stones 2 lbs. (156 lbs.); Hide, 10 stones 2lbs. (142 
lbs.) ; total 2620 lbs. 

This was his weight at eleven years old, under all the disad- 
vantages of traveling in a jolting carriage, and eight weeks of pain- 
ful illness. Had he been kept quietly at Ketton, and fed till seven 
years old, there is little doubt he would have weighed more than he 
did at ten years old, at which age his live weight was two hundred 
and seventy stones, (3*780 lbs.) from which, if fifty be taken for 
offal, it leaves the weight of the carcass two hundred and twenty 
stones, (3080 lbs.) 

It is a well-ascertained fact, that, during his career as a breeder, 
Mr. Colling tried several experiments in crossing, and the breeds to 
which he resorted on these occasions being very considerably 
smaller than the short-horns, this circumstance tends to corroborate 
the writer's opinion that he considered it desirable to reduce their 
size. The cross with the Kyloe led to no results worthy enumera- 
tion, but that with the polled Galloway must not be passed over 
without comment. Before stating the circumstances attending this 
experiment, it may be proper to observe that no breed of cattle pro- 
mised so successful a cross with the short-horns as the Galloway. 
They were calculated, by their deep massive frames and short legs, 
to bring the short-horns nearer the ground, and to dispose their 
weight in a more compact manner : their hardy habits would be es- 
sentially useful, and the quality of their flesh and hair were such as 
to render the experiment still more safe, and they could be obtained 
of a red color ; even without the sanction of a successful experiment, 
they were admirably adapted to cross with the short-horn, standing 
frequently too high from the ground, not very well ribbed home, and 
often of loose, disjointed frame. 

To this breed Mr. Colling resolved to resort ; and though at the 
time when he did so, the event was regarded with some degree of 
ridicule by the pure-blood advocates, and comments passed which 
would have deterred ordinary men from the exercise of their judg- 
ment, Mr. Colling persisted. 

Mr. Colling's short-horned bull Bolingbroke was put to a beauti- 
ful red polled Galloway cow, and the produce, a bull-calf, was, in 
due time, put to Johanna, a pure short-horn — she also produced a 
bull-calf. This grandson of Bolingbroke was the sire of the cow, 
Lady, by another pure short-horned dam, and from Lady has sprung 
the highly valuable family of improved short-horns, termed, in re- 
proach, the alloy. How far the alloy was derogatory, let facts 
testify* 

* The dam of Lady was Phoenix, also the dam of the hull Favorite ; and as the 
grandson of Bolingbroke is not known to have been the sire of any other remarkably 
good animal, it is most probable that the unquestionable merit of Lady and her 
descendants is to be attributed more to her dam than to her sire. — Youatt. 



100 



CATTLE. 



Mr. Colling was favored by circumstances in his object, which was to 
take one cross, and then breed back to the short-horn — the only course 
in which crossing can be successfully adopted. To breed from the 
produce of a cross directly among themselves will lead to results 
believed conclusive against crossing ; but to take one cross, and then 
return and adhere to one breed, will, in a few generations, stamp a 
variety with sufficient certainty. 

It will probably be admitted that the prejudice against this cross 
was at the highest at the time of Mr. Charles Colling's sale. The 
blood had then been little, if at 'all, introduced to other stocks, and 
it was manifestly the interest, whatever might be the inclination, of 
the many breeders who had it not, to assume high ground for the 
pure blood, and to depreciate the alloy. Under these untoward cir- 
cumstances for the alloy, what said public opinion, unequivocally 
certified by the stroke of the auctioneer's hammer ? Lady, at four- 
teen years old, sold for two hundred and six guineas. Countess, her 
daughter, nine years old, for four hundred guineas. Laura, another 
daughter, four years old, for two hundred and ten guineas. Major 
and George, two of her sons, the former three years old, the latter a 
calf, for two hundred guineas, and one hundred and thirty ; be- 
sides a number of others, more remotely descended from Lady, which 
all sold at high prices. Lady and her descendants sold for a larger 
sum than any other family obtained. 

A Catalogue of Mr. C. Colling's Sale of Short-Horned Cattle, 
October 11th, 1810. 



COWS. 



Age. Numes. 

11, Cherry, 

4, Kate, 

5, Peeress, 

2, Countess, 

5, Celina, 
4, Johanna, 

14, Lady, 

8, Catheline, 

4, Laura, 

3, Lily, 

6, Daisy, 

4, Cora, 
4, Beauty, 
4, Red Rose, 
3, Flora, 

3, Miss Peggy, 

3, Magdelene, \ 



Out of. 

Old Cherry, 

Cherry, 
Lady, 
Countess, 
Johanna, 

Old Phoenix, 

5 A daughter of the 
\ dam of Phoenix, 

Lady, 

Daisy, 

Old Daisy, 

Countess, 

Miss Washington, 

Eliza, 



A heifer by Wash- 
ton, 



Got by. 

Favorite, 

Comet, 

Favorite, 

Cupid, 

Favorite, 
Do., 
' A grandson of 
| Lord Boling- 
' broke. 

Washington, 

Favorite, 

Comet, 
I A grandson of 
I i avorite, 

Favorite, 

Marske, 

Comet, 
Do., 
5 A son of Fa- 
( vorite, 

Comet, 



SolH foi. 
Gs 

83, 
35, 
170, 
400, 
200, 
130, 



Bought by. 

J. D. Nesham. 
Mr. Hunt. 
Major Kudd. 

Do. 
Sir H. Ibbetson. 
H. Witham. 



206, C. Wright. 



150, 

210, 
410, 

140, 

70, 
120, 
45, 

70, 

60, 



G. Parker. 

Mr. Grant 
Major Rudd. 

Major Bower. 

G. Johnson. 
C. Wright. 
W. C. Fenton. 
Earl of Lonsdale. 

O. Gascoignc. 



170, Champion. 

2669, 



THE SHORT-HORNS. 



101 



BULLS. 



Age. Names. 


Out of. 


6, Comet, 


Phoenix, 


9, Yarborough, 




3, Major, 


Lady, 


3, Mayduke, 


Cherry, 


2, Petrarch, 


Old Venus, 


g 5 Northumber- 
*> I land, 






1, Alfred, 


Venus, 


1, Duke, 


Duchess, 


1, Alexander, 


Cora, 


1, Ossian, 


Magdalene, 


1, Harold, 


Red Rose, 



Got by. 


Price. 
Os. 


Bought by. 
f Messrs. Wetherell, 


Favorite, 


1000, 


j Trotter, 

1 Wright, and 

1. Charge. 


Do., 


55, 


A Gregson 


Comet, 


200, 


Mr. Grant. 


Do., 


145, 


Mr. Smithson. 


Do., 


365, 


Major Rudd. 


Do., 


80, 


Mr. Buston. 


Do., 


110, 


Mr. Robinson. 


Do., 


105, 


A. Compton. 


Do., 


63, 


Mr. Fenton. 


Do., 


76, 


Earl of Lonsdale. 


Windsor, 


50, 


Sir C. Loraine, 



2249. 



BULL-CALVES, UNDER ONE YEAR OLD. 



Names. 

Ketton, 

Young Favorite, 

George, 

Sir Dimple, 

Narcissus, 

Albion, 

Cecil, 



Out of. 

Cherry, 

Countess, 

Lady, 

Daisy, 

Flora, 

Beauty, 

Peeress, 



Got by. 

Comet, 
Do., 
Do., 
Do., 
Do., 
Do., 
Do., 



Price. 

Os. 
50, 

140, 

130, 
90, 
15, 
60, 

170, 

665. 



Bought by. 

Major Bower. 

Skipworth. 

Mr. Walker. 
T. Lax. 
Mr. Wright. 
T. Booth. 
H. Strickland. 



Age. Names. 



Out of. 



HEIFERS. 

Got by. 



M 



Phoebe, Dam by Favorite, 

Duchess I., Do. 

Young Laura, Laura, 

Young Coun- Countess 

tess, ' 

t < Dam by Washing- 

Luc y> \ ton, 

Charlotte, Catheline, 

Johanna, Johanna, 



Comet, 
Do., 
Do., 

Do., 

Do., 

Do., 
Do., 



Price. 

Os. 

105, 

183, 

101, 

206, 



Bought by 

Sir H. Ibbetson. 
T. Bates. 
Earl of Lonsdale. 
Sir H. Ibbetson. 



132, Mr. Wright. 

136, R. Colling. 
35, G. Johnson. 



HEIFER-CALVES, UNDER ONE YEAR OLD. 



Names. 


Out of. 


Got by. 


Price. Bought by. 
Os. 


Lucilla, 
Calista, 


Laura, 
Cora, 


Comet, 
Do., 


106, Mr. Grant. 
, n C Sir H. V. Tern- 
M .\ pest. 


White Rose, 

Ruby, 

Cowslip, 


Lily, 
Red Rose, 


Yarbro', 

Do., 
Comet, 


75, Mr. Strickland. 
50, Major Bower. 
25, Earl of Lonsdale 



306. 



102 



CATTLE. 



From the above it appears that seventeen cows were sold for 
£2802 9s.; eleven bulls, £2361 9s.; seven bull-calves, £087 15s.; 
seven heifers, £942 18s.; five heifer-calves, £321 6s. In all forty- 
seven were sold, for £7115 17s. 



/^ 




THE KEV. H. BERRY'S COW. 

Mr. Charge of Newton, near Darlington, and Mr. Mason of Chil- 
ton, in the county of Durham, were only second to Mr. Charles 
Colling in his interesting and useful pursuit. Mr. Mason started 
early with animals derived, it is believed, from Mr. Colling, in the 
very commencement of his career ; and Mr. Charge, who had long 
possessed a most valuable stock of Teeswater cattle, had at an early 
period crossed them with Mr. Colling's best bulls, and was one of 
the spirited purchasers of Comet, at a thousand guineas. Mr. Ma- 
son's successful sale sufficiently stamps the value of his stock at that 
period, 1829. 

It would be unfair to omit mention of a veteran breeder, to whom 
the advocates for the preservation of pedigree are indebted for the 
" Short-horn Herd Book" — Mr. George Coates. He is now one of 
the oldest authorities on the subject, and was once the possessor 
of a very superior race of short-horns, though somewhat coarse. 
Portraits have been preserved of some very good animals bred by 



THE SHORT-HORNS. 103 



him ; and he had the satisfaction to dispose of his bull Patriot for 
five hundred guineas. 

Mr. Coates fell into an error, but too common, and generally 
equally fatal : he fancied his own stock the best, and disdained to 
cross them with Mr. Colling's ; which, as others afterwards proved, 
would have been a most judicious proceeding. The consequence 
was, Mr. Colling's sale having settled the public judgment and 
taste, Mr. Coates 's stock fell into disrepute. ]f an apology be requi- 
site for this statement of an undeniable fact, it will be found in the 
utility of holding up such an example as a caution to those who may 
be in danger of falling into a similar error. 

It is considered that the specimens already appealed to, and the 
fine animals whose portraits accompany this account, will render su- 
perfluous any attempt more particularly to describe the short-horns. 
Of course they will be found to vary greatly ; but sufficient may be 
collected from what is presented to the reader, to inform him as to 
the character of this superior breed of cattle. The next object, then, 
will be to show their capabilities to make a return for food consumed, 
and the unparalleled early period at which such return may be 
made. Indeed, early maturity is the grand and elevating character- 
istic of the short-horns, and their capacity to continue growing, 
and at the same time attaining an unexampled ripeness of condition 
at an early age, has excited the wonder, and obtained the approba- 
tion, of all not blinded by prejudice. 

In order to do justice to the subject, and to show that these pro- 
perties are not all of recent acquirement, but were possessed in an 
eminent degree by the Teeswater cattle, it will be requisite to give 
a few facts in evidence. 

Sir Henry Grey (of Howick) bred two oxen, which were fed by 
Mr. Waistell, and when six years old weighed 130 stones each, 
14 lbs. to the stone (1820 lbs.) ; their inside fat being extraordinary. 

A heifer, three years old, bred by Miss Allen (of Grange), fed on 
hay and grass alone, weighed 90 stones, (1360 lbs.) 

Two three years'-old steers, bred by the same lady, and similarly 
fed, weighed respectively 92 and 96 stones, (1288 lbs. and 1344 lbs.) 

Mr. Waistell's four years'-old ox, by the grand-sire of Hubback, 
weighed 110 stones, (1540 lbs.) 

A four years'-old ox, bred by Mr. Simpson (of Aycliffe,) fed on 
hay and turnips only, weighed 135 stones, (1890 lbs.) 

A five years'-old heifer, bred by a bishop of Durham, weighed 
110 stones, (1540 lbs.) 

A cow of Mr. Hill's, slaughtered in Northumberland, weighed 127 
stones, (1738 lbs.) 

Mr. George Coates, before-mentioned, slaughtered a heifer, by the 
sire of Hubback, which, fed on turnips and hay, weighed, at two 
years and two months old, G8 stones, (932 lbs.) 



104 CATTLE. 

An ox and heifer, bred by Mr. Watson (of Manfield,) weighed, at 
four years old, within a few pounds, ] 10 stones each, (1540 lbs.) 

A sister to Mr. G. Coates's Badsworth, having run with her dam, 
without oil-cake or meal, met with an accident, and died when seven 
months old ; she weighed 34 stones, (476 lbs.) 

A steer, by a brother to the above heifer, three years and two 
months old, weighed 105 stones (1470 lbs.) ; and another steer, by the 
same bull, exactly three years old, weighed 95 stones, (1330 lbs.) 
Both were kept as store-beasts till two years old. 

An ox, bred by M. Hill (of Blackwell,) slaughtered at six years 
old, weighed 151 stones, JO lbs. (2124 lbs.); tallow, 11 stones. 

The Howick red ox, seven years old, weighed 152 stones, 9 lbs., 
(2137 lbs.); tallow, 16 stones, 7 lbs. 

Mr. Charge's ox, seven years old, weighed 168 stones, 10 lbs. 
(2352 lbs.) ; tallow, 13 stones. 

The foregoing instances of weight and proof show, that in the 
Teeswater cattle, Mr. Charles Collins had good materials with which 
to commence. Let us now refer to a later period, and state some 
particulars respecting their descendants, the short-horns. 

In the year 1808, Mr. Bailey, the agricultural historian of Durham, 
informs us, he saw, at Mr. Mason's (of Chilton,) a cow, not less 
remarkable in point of fat than the Durham ox. At that time, the 
depth of fat, from the rump to the hips, in a perpendicular position, 
was not less than twelve inches ; and the shoulder score at least nine 
inches thick. 

Mr. Robert Colling's heifer, which was exhibited as a curiosity, 
was estimated, at four years old, to weigh 130 stones, (1820 lbs.) 

The same gentleman sold, in Darlington Market, on the 18th of 
April, 1 808, a two years'-old steer for 221.; the price of fat stock 
being at that time seven shillings per stone ; 66 stones 6 lbs. weight, 
or 924 lbs. 

At Mr. Nesham's (of Houghton-le-Spring,) Mr. Bailey saw a 
steer, 25 months old, completely covered with fat over the whole 
carcass, and supposed to be the fattest steer of his age ever seen. 
Butchers estimated him to weigh 75 stones, (1050 lbs.) Neither of 
the last-mentioned were of large size, and would not have weighed 
above 40 stones (560 lbs.), had they been no fatter than those usually 
slaughtered. 

Mr. Wetherell (of Field House) sold at the fair in Darlington, in 
March, 1810, two steers, under three years old, for 47£. 10s. each. 
The price of cattle at that fair, 10s. per stone ; weight 1330 lbs. each. 

Mr. Arrowsmith (of Ferryhill,) who fed off his short-horns at two 
years old, furnished the following particulars of the prices he obtained 
from the butchers, viz. 

In 1801, sold four for 25l. each ; two steers, and two heifers. In 
1802, sold six for 17Z. 10s. each ; three steers, and three heifers. In 



THE SHORT-HONRS. 105 



1803, sold four for 17/. each. In 1804, sold six for 18?. 10s. each. 
In 1805, sold six for I'll. 10s. each; two steers, and four heifers, In 
1806, sold four for 161. each. In 1807, sold eight for 18/. each. 
In 1808, sold eight for 19/. each. 

The time of selling, from the beginning to the latter end of May. 
In the first winter they got straw in a fold-yard, with nearly as many 
turnips as they could consume ; in May they went to grass ; in 
November put to turnips through the winter, and turned to grass the 
first week in May. 

A twin heifer, belonging to Mr. Arrowsmith, calved the last week 
in April, being kept the first year as the store-stock, was entered for 
a sweepstakes, to be shown in June, at which time she would be two 
years old. She was immediately turned to grass. In November 
she was estimated to weigh 28 stones (392 lbs) ; when she was put 
to ruta baga, and hay, and oil-cake, of which latter she ate 4 cwt., 
with 2 bushels bean-meal, and 1 bushel barley. She went to grass 
again on the first of May, and from that period had neither oil-cake 
nor meal. On the 23d of July, it was the opinion of judges that she 
weighed 58 or 60 stones (820 lbs.) ; having gained 30 stones (420 lbs.) 
in 30 weeks. 

In April, 1808, Mr. Bailey saw, at Mr. Arrowsmith'sj eight year- 
lings, intended for feeding. They were very lean, not more than 15 
stones (210 lbs.) each ; and had they been offered for sale in a fair, 
no person, unacquainted with the breed, would have given more for 
them than 41. 10s. or 5/. per head. 

Mr. Walton (of Middleton in Teesdale) had been, in 1808, in the 
habit of selling his steers, at two years and a quarter old, at from 20/. 
to 30/. each ; their weight being 50 to 54 stones (700 to 750 lbs.) 
fed solely on vegetable food. 

Mr. Mason (of Chilton,) in an experiment to ascertain the weight 
of beef gained by the food given (turnips,) found three steers, under 
three years old, to have gained 20 stones (280 lbs.) each in 20 weeks. 
The three steers averaged 70 stones (980 lbs.) each. 

In 1816, Mr. Nesham's steer, three years and a half old, obtained 
the premium offered by the Durham Agricultural Society; his weight 
was, the 4 quarters, 96 stones, l|lbs. (1347|); tallow, 11 stones, 
7 lbs. (154 lbs.*); hide, 8 stones, (112 lbs.) 

Major Rudd (of Cleveland) obtained the premium offered by the 
Cleveland Agricultural Society in 1811, for the best steer, under 
three years old, and fed on vegetable food. The steer was slaughtered 
when three years and thirteen days old ; the weight of his four 
quarters was 96 stones, (1344 lbs.) 

The late Mr. Robertson, of Berwick-upon-Tweed, furnished the 
following particulars of short-horns, bred by him, and fed, with few 
exceptions, on vegetable food : — 

I7u4. — An ox, four years ten months old; four quarters, 145 
5* 



106 



CATTLE. 



stones, .3 lb.; tallow, 24 stones, 7 lb., (2208 lbs.) A steer, under four 
years old ; four quarters, 100 stones ; tallow 19 stones, 7 lb., (1747 lbs.,) 
1814. — A steer, three years nine months old; four quarters, 101 
stones, tallow, 15 stones, (lG24lbs.) 1815. — A steer, three years 
eleven months old ; four quarters, 112 stones 7 lb.; tallow, 2G stones, 
(1839 lbs.) A heifer, three years eight months old; four quarters, 
89 stones, (1226 lbs.) 1817. — A steer, three years two months old ; 
four quarters, 95 stones, 10 lb.; tallow, 17 stones, 10 lb. (1528 lbs.) 
1822. — An ox, four years and a half old ; four quarters, 135 stones ; 
tallow, 21 stones, (2184 lbs.) Own brother to the foregoing, three 
years and a half old; four quarters, 133 stones; tallow, 21 stones, 
(2170 lbs.) A steer, three years ten months old ; four quarters, 124 
stones; tallow, 17 stones, (2074 lbs.) A steer, three years eight 
months old; four quarters, 112 stones, (1568 lbs.); tallow not 
weighed. 




^^^m 



: .KS.£lLHi :.'r 






LORD ALTHOR1' S COW. 



A steer, bred by Col. Cook, of Doncaster, fed on potatoes and 
straw, was slaughtered when two years and twenty-two days old ; 
Jus four quarters weighed 72 stones, (1008 lbs.) 

}ir. John Rennie (of Phantassie,) fed, in 1823, a steer, from eigh- 



THE SHORT-HORN S. 



107 



teen to twenty months old ; the four quarters of which weighed 
945 lbs. 

The same gentleman fed a steer, aged two years four months, 
whose four quarters weighed 123 1 lbs.; also a steer, aged three years 
six months, whose four quarters weighed 13G9 lbs.; tallow, 241 lbs. 

Should the foregoing statement be considered extended, it will, at 
least, be admitted, that its ample detail establishes the credit of the 
short-horns as an invaluable breed to the grazier. 

In the commencement of this account, however, it was stated that 
they possess a combination of qualities, considered incompatible in 
other breeds, viz., the disposition to feed rapidly, in union with dairy 
qualifications. 




:eg*£ r &#FP 



LORD ALTHORP S HEIFER. 

There is a very general impression that animals disposed to fatten 
rapidly seldom give much milk. It is true, that every perfection in 
cattle — whether it be one of form, of quality of flesh, of disposition 
to fatten, or to yield milk — can be promoted and retained solely by 
the breeder's devoted attention to his particular object ; and if one 
object be allowed a paramount importance in the breeder's practice, 
other objects will suffer, in proportion as they are neglected. 

The carcass of the short-horns has ever been so surprising, and so 



108 CATTLE. 

justly valued, that many persons have allowed that completely to 
occupy their attention, and the dairy has been disregarded. In such 
a state of things, every advance towards one point has been to recede 
from another ; because what tends to enhance a particular quality, 
will also enhance a defect, provided such defect was of previous 
existence. 

The objections which exist among breeders, for various and some 
cogent reasons, against crossing with the stocks of each other, una- 
voidably lead to the practice of breeding in and in ; which, in case of 
any original deficiency of the milking property, must unquestionably 
go on to render that deficiency greater. Bad milking, in a breed of 
animals which were ever distinguished as good milkers, is not a ne- 
cessary consequence of improvement in the animal in other respects, 
but a consequence of the manner in which such improvement is 
pursued. Short-horns, inferior to none for the grazier, may always 
be selected and bred with the most valuable dairy properties. There 
are many instances of the highest bred short-horns giving upwards 
of four gallons of milk night and morning ; and attention only is re- 
quisite, on the part of the breeder, to perpetuate this quality to any 
desirable extent. A moderately good milker will be found to yield 
as much hotter in the week as one giving an enormous quantity ; the 
milk being unquestionably of very superior qualitj' ; and, indeed, it 
should be the case, that the animal economy, which leads to an ex- 
cessive secretion of flesh and fat, should also be productive of other 
rich secretions. 

Wherever the improved short-horns have been crossed with other 
cattle, their superiority is equally manifest, in respect of dairy quali- 
fications, as in every other. 

An opinion generally prevails that the short-horns are unfitted for 
work; and in some respects it is admitted they are so: but the 
correct reason has not been assigned, and the question may fairly 
come briefly under notice. They are willing and able to work, but 
surely cattle which, as the preceding account proves, will go as 
profitably to the butcher at two years old as any other breed at 
three, and as many even at four, ought never to be placed in the 
yoke. No beast, in the present advanced state of breeding, ought 
to be put upon a system which arose out of the necessity of obtain- 
ing compensation by work for the loss attending a tardy maturity. 
But where it may be convenient, the short-horns, particularly the 
bulls, work admirably, as their great docility promises : And as good 
bulls are apt to become useless, from acquiring too much flesh in a 
state of confinement, moderate work might, in most cases, prove 
beneficial. 

The specimens which accompany this account will render little 
comment necessary on their form. With deference, however, it is 
submitted to the breeders of short-horns, that they should avoid 



THE SHORT-HORNS. 



109 



breeding from too close affinities, and, while they steer clear of 
coarseness, should require a sufficiency of masculine character in 
their males. This is a point in "which many short-horns are rather 
defective, and it is one of infinite importance. The length of the 
carcass should be medium, as well as that of the legs, and a hardier 
animal, with equal size and on a more profitable scale, will be pro- 
duced. The facilities for making this improvement are sufficiently 
numerous, the short-horns being now more generally diffused. That 
wider diffusion also multiplies the means of selecting for milk ; a 
quality which should not be lost sight of ; for it is the combinatiim of 
perfections which has conferred, and will perpetuate, the superiority 
of this breed of cattle. 




LORD ALTHORP S BULL. 

The colors of the short-horns are red or white, or a mixture of the 
two, combining in endless variety, and producing, very frequently, 
most brilliant effect. The white, it is very probable, they obtained 
from an early cross with the wild breed ; and whenever this color 
shows itself, it is accompanied, more or less, with a red tinge on the 
extremity of the ear ; a distinctive character, also, of the wild cattle. 
~Ro pure short-horns are found of any colors but those above named. 



110 CATTLE. 

" So far Mr. Berry, whose admirable account of the short-horns 
our readers will duly estimate." Thus Mr. Youatt finishes Mr. 
Berry's, and commences his part of the account of short-horns, which 
begins on page 131, and goes to page 137. 

CORRECTIONS OF MR. BERRY, AND FURTHER HISTORICAL NOTICES OF 
SHORT-HORNS. 

The American Editor deemed it proper to give the account of the 
short-horns written for this work by Mr. Berry, and printed by 
Youatt. It is to be regretted that Mr. Youatt should not have done 
in reference to the short-horns, what he did in reference to all 
the other races of English cattle, — written their history himself. 
Although adopting and therefore endorsing this history, he yet, 
in two quite important notes, pages 95 and 99, very materially 
qualifies one position, and wholly contradicts and destroys another 
most important one of Mr. Berry. Entirely unconnected with any 
particular stock or short-horn interest, Mr. Youatt was eminently 
fitted from capacity and impartiality to investigate, and then to 
write the history of the short-horns ; and in this respect presents a 
strong contrast to Mr. Berry, who, from interest, was a partisan, 
and devoted to views sustaining that interest. 

In England, it is said that Mr. Berry's first history, printed in 
1824, and reprinted in 1830, was written to further the interest of 
Mr. Whittaker, then a breeder; and certain it is that the only 
breeder of that day — 1824 to 1830— who finds a place in that his- 
tory, is Mr. Whittaker. It is further said that Mr. Berry became 
hostile to Mr. Whittaker ; that under this feeling of enmity, his 
second history (the one here given) was written, in which not the 
most distant allusion is made to Mr. Whittaker, or his stock ; and 
that in this second history his object was to serve himself, as in the 
first one he had served Mr. Whittaker. Be this as it may, it is 
given as told. 

No one would have a right to complain that the interest of Mr. 
Whittaker was promoted by the first history ; or that of Mr. Berry 
by the second, had truth been observed and made the means of that 
advancement. 

In the first of these histories, the object seems to have been soh-ly 
to put forth Mr. Charles Colling as the entire creator of the short- 
horns in the great perfection they presented in his day, and exhibit 
at present; and Mr. Whittaker as his chief successor. In the second 
history (the one in Youatt) the object appears to be the same as 
regards Mr. C. Colling, and to show that the short-horn and Galloway 
alloy, or cross, is superior to the true 6hort-horn. In this second 
one Mr. Berry's interest was to be promoted, as he had a large 
stock, wholly of the Galloway alloy. 



SHORT-HORNS. Ill 



In Mr. Berry's first history, there is much matter that is omitted 
in the second ; and much in the second not to be found in the first ; 
and much in each that is discordant with the other. In the first one 
the Galloway alloy is not named at all ; in the second that cross is 
all that is held of any importance in the breeding of C. Colling. 

The points in Mr. Berry's account, here printed, (his second his- 
tory,) which will be noticed and refuted, are 

1. The asserted importation of cattle from Holland about one hun- 
dred years since, and the union of their blood with the then existing 
short-horns of the valley of the Tees. 

2. The assertion that about one hundred years since, the breeders 
of short-horns, in their pretended improvement, " proceeded on a judi- 
cious system of crossing with other breeds, and one to which they 
referred was in all probability the white wild breed." 

3. The claimed exclusive improvement effected in the Short-horns 
by C. Colling. 

4. The assertion that Mr. C. Colling adopted, as the rule of his 
breeding, the reduction of the size of the short-horns bred by him. 

5. The account given of Hubback, in which it is impliedly said 
that he was not a pure short-horn, and that he possessed on one 
side the Dutch blood, and that from fat he early became useless. 

6. The whole account of the Galloway cross; the value of that 
cross in consequence of the Galloway blood, and the assertion that 
the cross was made deliberately and with a view to the improvement 
of the short-horns. 

1. There was no importation of Dutch cattle, from Holland. 

Mr. Youatt in a note, page 95, says : " a large and valuable de- 
scription of cattle existed on the western coast of the continent of 
Europe, and extending from Denmark to France. They were cele- 
brated for the great quantities of milk which they yielded, and some 
of them exhibited an extraordinary aptitude to fatten. At what 
particular time they found their way to England, or by whom im- 
ported, is unknown." 

Mr. George Culley, who wrote in 1785, says : " I remember a 
gentleman of the county of Durham, (a Mr. Michael Dobison,) who 
went in the early part of his life into Holland, in order to buv bulls ; 
and those he brought over, I have been told, did much service in 
improving the breed ; and this Mr. Dobison, and his neighbors even 
in my day, were noted for having the best breeds of short-horned 
cattle, and sold their bulls and heifers for very great prices. But 
afterwards some other people of less knowledge going over, brought 
home some bulls, that in all probability introduced into that coast 
the disagreeable kind of cattle well known to the breeders upon the 
river Tees, and called lyery, or double leyered, that is, black fleshed ; 
and the flesh, (for it does not deserve to be called beef,) is black 
and coarse grained as horse flesh." 



112 CATTLE. 

Mr. Berry, in his first history (of 1824), says positively, that "Sir 
William St. Quintin, of Scampston, imported cows and bulls from 
Holland." In his second, (page 96 of this volume,) he qualifies this 
positive assertion to the following, viz.: " it is asserted that about the 
^period in question (1 740) Sir William St. Quintin, of Scampston, im- 
ported bulls and cows from Holland." 

Mr. Bailey, in his Agricultural Survey of Durham, says : " an at- 
tempt to improve the Teeswater breed (which I suppose Avas more 
with regard to size than any other quality,) was made by Mr. Mi- 
chael Dobison, of the Isle, near Sedgefield, who brought a bull out 
of Holland, that is said to have improved the breed. A few years 
after, some other adventurers went over to Holland, and as great 
bulls were then considered the criterion of perfection, they brought 
home a complete lyery animal with immense buttocks, which did a 
great deal of mischief ; but there were some intelligent breeders that 
steered clear of this evil ; and from them the pure Teeswater breed 
has descended to the present time." 

All the authorities for importations of Dutch cattle from Holland 
to England, last century, have here been quoted. Mr. Youatt had ob- 
viously investigated this point, and he says : " At what particular time 
they found their way to England, or by whom they were imported, 
is unknown ; but there is a tradition, that towards the close of the 
seventeeth century, (prior to 1*700,) a bull and some cows were in- 
troduced into Holderness." He does not mention Michael Dobison. 
Mr. Berry states that " it is asserted that Sir William St. Quintin, of 
Scampston, (which is in Holderness, Yorkshire,) imported bulls and 
cows from Holland ;" but he does not mention Dobison in either of 
his histories. Mr. Culley states: " 1 remember a Michael Dobison, 
who Avent in the early part of his life into Holland, to buy bulls, and 
I have been told these bulls did much service in improving the 
breed." Martin, in his history of cattle, says, " by what crosses the 
TeesAvater strain became established, it is scarcely possible to say ; 
there is, Ave believe, some reason for thinking that one Avas with the 
semi-Avild Avhite breed, and another Avith choice cattle, imported di- 
rectly from Holland." Martin, one of the scientific officers of the 
Zoological Society of London, is distinguished for his extended re- 
search in the department of the history of cattle. Both Martin and 
Youatt quote Culley ; and neither gives any credit to the assertion 
that. Dobison imported bulls from Holland. Bailey, in his Survey of 
Durham, gives it little or no credit, saying that it is said that Dobi- 
son's bull improved the breed ; and yet Bailey distinctly states his 
belief that Dobison's attempt to improve the Teeswater cattle was 
more with regard to size than any other quality. 

The elder Mr. Colling, father of Charles and Robert Colling, Avas 
contemporaneous with Dobison, and lived within five miles of him. 
Mr. Culley was born in 1735, at Denton, within fifteen miles of Dobi- 



SHORT-HORNS. 113 



son, and resided at Denton until he was thirty-two years old, and 
knew Dobison personally. Mr. Bailey knew both Mr. Colling, Sen., 
and Mr. Culley. Bailey began his investigations in 1795, and Cul- 
ley wrote in 1785. Mr. Bailey names Thomas Corner, who was 
ninety years old at the time, as his authority for saying that " Mr. , 
Milbank, of Birmingham, and Mr. Croft, of Barford, were the most 
eminent breeders, and were considered as having the best and purest 
breed, at that period ;" " and Mr. George Culley says that he has 
repeatedly heard Ms father state the same particulars." Can there be 
a doubt that Mr. Bailey and Mr. Culley, had ample means to know 
every particular as to Mr. Dobison ? and they communicate nothing. 
They record a tradition, and do no more. This floating tradition of an 
importation, found a resting place in Holderness, with St. Quintin ; 
and in Durham, with Dobison. 

It was about 1750 that Dobison lived at the Isle, and was breed- 
ing. Bailey fixes this period. 

Now, at the period, at which it is said there were bulls and cows 
imported from Holland by Dobison, Sir William St. Quintin, and 
others, there existed a statute of Parliament, forbidding the importa- 
tion of cattle into England. 

In the 18th year of the reign of Charles II., which was the year 
16CG, the Parliament of England passed an act providing as follows : 

" The Importation of all great Cattle shall be deemed a common 
Nuisance. If any (except for the necessary provision of the Ship,) 
shall be imported from beyond Sea, any Constable, Churchwarden, 
&c, of the place, may seize the same, and if the owner shall not 
within forty-eight hours, prove such Cattle were not imported, the 
same to be forfeited." 

And to this were added penalties against the importer. From 
that time until the year 1841, that act was unrepealed, and was 
always enfoiced, except from 1801 to 1814. 

By a statute of Parliament made in the 39th year of the reign of 
George III., (which was the year 1799,) it was enacted that "a 
discretionary power is hereby vested in His Majesty, to permit from 
Time to Time, the Importation of all Articles of Provisions ; Bulls, 
Cows, Calves, Oxen, Sheep, Lambs, and Swine." 

And by order in Council, made in 1801, it was directed that "A 
free Importation of Articles of Provisions, Cattle, Sheep, and Swine, 
be permitted for six months, from the date of this order;" and like 
orders from six months to six months were made in Council from 
1801 to the latter part of the year 1814, when they ceased. Ex- 
cepting this period, from 1801 to 1814, the importation of cattle 
was prohibited altogether from 1666 to 1841. The king and his 
council had no power to permit importation until the act of Parlia- 
ment in 1799 was passed. 

Mr. John Hutchinson, the well-known banker of Stockton, county 



114 CATTLE. 

of Durham, and breeder of short-horns, had an examination made of 
the records of the various ports in his vicinity, viz., New-Castle, 
Sunderland, and Stockton, and found that no cattle from 1666 to 
1821 had ever been imported at any time into Stockton, and into 
New-Castle and Sunderland, only during the period of permission 
from 1801 to 1814. In his history and pedigrees of his own short- 
horns, he states these examinations, and denying an importation of 
Dutch cattle, by Dobison, says : " I should like to know when Mi- 
chael Dobison of the Isle took his trip to Holland, to select bulls to 
improve the breed ? Nay, I will not be very particular, only let me 
know in what king's reign it was, and I shall be satisfied. Thus it 
appears that all that has been written about these importations of 
Dutch animals is not to be depended on." Mr. J. Hutchinson, and 
his brother, were contemporaneous with the Collings ; and their 
uncle, who died in 1789, and whose stock they inherited, was con- 
temporaneous with Dobison. 

In addition to this, the late Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington, 
Eng., was informed by Mr. Christopher Hill, collector of the port of 
Sunderland, that he had made an examination by correspondence 
with the various collector of the ports on the eastern coast of Eng- 
land, from Berwick in Scotland, to London, and that the records of 
the customs in those ports furnished no proof of the importation of 
any cattle rom 1666 to 1*796. Mr. Christopher Hill was the last of 
the family of that name, distinguished as breeders of short-horns at 
Blackwell. He parted with his stock entirely in 1790, and was in 
1794 appointed collector of the port of Sunderland. 

With all this evidence, who for a moment can believe in the im- 
portation, some time in the last century, of Dutch cattle to the county 
of Durham, and their being used to improve the short-horns. The 
Mr. Milbank of 1740, of Barningham, first mentioned by Mr. Bailey, 
was prior in point of time to Mr. Dobison, and there is no pretence 
that any Dutch cattle were imported until Dobison's time. Sir Wil- 
liam St. Quintin was breeding about 1760 to 1780, subsequently to 
Mr. Dobison, and died in 1795. Of course Mr. Milbank could have 
had no Dutch blood in his cattle ; and Mr. Baily expressly mentions 
him, and Mr. Croft of Barford, as among those " intelligent breeders 
that steered clear of this evil, [the Dutch blood,] and from them the 
pure Teeswater breed has descended to the present time." Ihe 
other breeders of that period who were noted with Milbank and 
Croft, were Mr. Brown and Mr. Appleby, of Aldborough, Mr. Best, 
and Mr. Watson of Mansfield; Mr. Waistel, of Great Burdon ; Mr. 
Stephenson, of Ketton ; Mr. Harrison, of Barmpton ; Mr. John Hall, 
of Haughton Hill; Mr. Sharter of Chilton; Mr. Pickering, of Fox- 
ton ; and Mr. Bamlet, of Norton. These are named particularly, as 
from the herds of every one of them, Charles and Robert Colling 
derived animals, either directly, or from intermediate breeders. 



SHORT-HORNS. 115 



Suppose we admit that St. Quintin, and Dobison and his successors, 
imported Dutch cattle. Both Culley and Bailey say that Dobison 
and his successors brought only bulls from Holland ; and the one 
says that " it is said," and the other that "/ have been told," that 
the Dutch bull of Dobison did good ; both say that the other Dutch 
bulls did harm ; and Bailey says that " there were some intelligent 
breeders tvho steered clear of this evil, and from them the pure Tees- 
wnter breed has descended to the piesent time." Then it was only from 
Dobison's bull that the Dutch blood could get into the short-horns; 
the race of short-borns was there before that bull came, for Dobison 
and his fellow importers brought no cows from Holland. The only 
person who is said to have imported cotes as well as bulls from Hol- 
land, was Sir William St. Quintin. It is said that Sir James Penny- 
man got his cattle from St. Quintin, and that he gave a bull and 
cows to George Snowdon ; that, Snowdon's bull having the Dutch 
blood, of course Hubback had it, as Hubback was by Snowdon's 
bull ; that Hubback's blood is in all well descended (perhaps all) 
short-horns, therefore the Dutch blood is in all short-horns. But it 
is not the fact that Pennyman gave a bull and cows to Snowden ; nor 
is there any evidence to show that Snowdon's bull and cows were of 
Pennyman's blood. This will be shown under the head of remarks on 
Hubback's pedigree. Then the Dutch blood, that is now to be 
deemed a part of the blood of short-horns, must all come from Dobi- 
son's bull. In the days of the Collings it must have been reduced 
to at most a one thousandth part ; what part must it be now ? Deci- 
mal fractions could hardly compute it. If the short-horns have it, 
they cannot be good in consequence of it, for it is too incalculably 
small to have the least influence. But the statute of Charles II. 
cuts off all chance for even this infinitesmal decimal of Dutch blood 
in short-horns. 

There can be no doubt that originally the short-horns came from 
the continent. But it was many hundred years since, though at 
what time no one can say. It is not claimed by any one that they 
were imported in the last centuiy ; only that they were improved by 
bulls imported from Holland. Culley says, " in all the accounts of 
cattle in this island, which 1 have seen in deeds or statutes, they are 
called black cattle. Now, does this not strengthen the opinion of 
the short-horned breeds being introduced from the continent, some- 
time after our sea-coasts and low country were improved and in closed ; 
and before that period, is it not probable we had mostly the small 
black cattle, which are still to be met with in all the wild mountain- 
ous parts of Wales and Scotland ?" Again he says, " it is pretty 
evident that our forefathers have imported the short-horned breed of 
cattle from the continent." Berry, in h'\s first history (of 1824) says 
" there exists authentic evidence of facts, which place the short- 
horns on a level, at least, with any of their rivals, howsoever high the 



116 CATTLE. 

antiquity they boast." Martin says, " In Groningen, Friesland, Guil- 
derland, Utrecht, and Holland, a fine short-horned race of cattle has 
long existed. This ancient short-horn race may in fact be traced 
from Jutland and Holstein (both in Denmark), along the western 
portions of Europe, through the Netherlands (Holland and Belgium), 
to the borders of France. In reference to our (the English) short- 
horned breed, Mr. Culley says ' there are many reasons for thinking 
this breed has been imported from the continent.' " 

The great argument, however, for the continental origin is, un- 
doubtedly, that the short-horns, a local breed in four counties only 
of England, had no congener or allied breed elsewhere in England, 
but found it only on the continent, from Denmark to Belgium. The 
Danes ravaged all the region from Denmark to France, for more than 
one hundred years, from 850 to 950, and in 875 conquered the 
kino-dom of Northumbria, which comprised the counties of Yorkshire, 
Durham, and Northumberland, in England, and held it, either inde- 
pendently or by paying tribute, for nearly two hundred years, and 
until subjected and incorporated with England, as one kingdom, by 
William the Conqueror. At what time the short-horns were brought 
to these Danish counties in England, is unknown ; but it is probable 
as many as seven or eight centuries since. There is a cow sculptured 
on the west corner tower of the eastern transept of the cathedral of 
the city of Durham, commemorating a tradition as to the cathedral ; 
and in every respect the effigy ])resents a short-horned cow. This 
transept was begun to be built in the year 1235, and was finished 
by Prior Hotoun about 1300, he dying in 1308. 

But it is conceded by all authorities that the short-horns have 
existed for ages in Durham ; the question is what were the means 
used to improve them up to their present perfection. Some say by 
selections among the race itself ; others claim that bulls were im- 
ported from Holland, and crossed on them ; that the white wild 
breed of Chillingham and Chatelherault (Cadyow) Parks, and even 
the Alderneys, were used. As to the Alderney, it may be remarked 
that not oneoi the historians of English cattle, Culley, Berry, Mar- 
tin,. Youatt, mentions this cross, and therefore it is not worth refuta- 
tion. As to the cross with the white wild breed, it is a mere con- 
jecture, and is only mentioned by Berry and Martin ; Culley says 
nothing of it. 

2. It is not true that, about one hundred years since, the breeders 
of short-horns, in the pretended improvement, " proceeded on a 
judicious system of crossing with other breeds ; and one to which 
they referred was, in all probability, the white wild breed." 

From the earliest period ivhite cattle were known in Jutland, 
Holstein, (Denmark,) Hanover, Oldenburgh, and Holland. From the 
earliest accounts we have of the short-horn in England, the white is 
known to have existed very anciently. The source then of the 



SHORT-HORNS. 117 



white color is very evident ; it came from the continent to England 
with the short-horns themselves. Bailey, in his Survey of Durham, 
(1810,) says that "about seventy years since, the colors of the cattle 
of Mr. Milbank and Mr. Croft, were red and white, and white with 
a little red about the neck, or roan. This information was commu- 
cated by Mr. Thomas Corner, now near ninety years of age ; and 
Mr. George Culley says that he has repeatedly heard his father 
state the same particulars." This refers to the period prior to 1740. 
Now, at this period, 1740, there were no wild cattle except in Chil- 
lingham Park, Northumberland, Craven Park, Yorkshire, and Cha- 
telheraut Park, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Mr. Berry fixes the period 
of 1740 as the time at about which the improvements by supposed 
crossing were made in the short-horns. Then the persons making 
the cross must have gone to one of these parks for the means. What 
is the character of these cattle? Culley in 1785 described them 
thus : — " Their color is invariably a creamy white, muzzle black, the 
whole of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the outside, 
from the tips downward, red, horns white with black tips, very fine 
and bent upward ; some of the bulls have a thin \ipright mane 
about an inch and a half or two inches long." Such they are now, 
and a personal inspection of them authorizes the statement. Mr. 
Culley omitted to say that they have a dull ferocious eye, encircled by 
a black ring. If this was the cross which gave the white color to 
short-horns, it would as certainly have given the black nose, the black 
tipped horn, and the dull ferocious eye with its black rim. Was a 
short-horn of known purity, of vihite color, with these characters, ever 
seen ? The internal evidence is then against this cross having been 
made. But the thought of this cross is of recent origin, not dating 
back farther than thirty years ; and is only a supptosition at best. 
The white color then is original with the short-horns, and came not 
from the white wild breed. 

3. It is not true that C. Colling exclusively improved the short- 
horns, or bred better ones than he originally obtained to breed from. 

Mr. Berry in both his histories gives no one credit for improvement 
in the short-horns but to Charles Colling. Except with Mr. Berry, 
it has always been conceded that his brother Robert Colling was 
quite as good a breeder as Charles. They commenced their breed- 
ing together, got cows from the same sources in several instances, 
and interchanged bulls throughout their joint career. If a pre- 
ference was given to either, it would seem to have been rather to 
Robert than Charles. Three of their contemporaries, who were fa- 
miliar with their cattle, and two of them their intimate personal 
friends, and, from capacity and circumstances, the best of judges, are 
quoted. 

Mr. Bailey, in his Survey of Durham, says, " Messrs. Collings' have 
frequently sold cows and heifers for £100 ; and bull calves at £100- 



118 CATTLE. 

These gentlemen let bulls out by the year ; the prices from 50 to 
100 guineas; and the public are so fully convinced of their merits, 
that these celebrated breeders cannot supply the demand from the 
pure blood." There seems no distinction here between the two brothers, 
and in Bailey's whole account there is no indication that either he 
or the public thought Charles superior to Robert. 

The celebrated Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington, was the intimate 
friend of both the Collings ; and bought cattle of Charles, deriving 
from him his famous Duchess tribe. No man ever had a fuller 
knowledge of the cattle of the two brothers than he ; and he was, as 
a judge, unsurpassed. His merits as a breeder are such that in 
modern days no man in public estimation has excelled him. The 
sale, in 1850, of his cattle realized higher prices than any other since 
the days of the Collings. Mr. Bates, in a letter in the New Farmer's 
Journal, says : " The superiority of the stock of Mr. R. Colling's 
White Bull (151) over Favorite's stock (252) was evident to me in 
1804 — and was admitted by Mr. C. Colling — and I would gladly 
have then given 100 guineas to have had my first Duchess bulled by 
him, but I could not obtain it on any terms, and it was twenty-seven 
years afterwards before I obtained the same blood in Belvedere, 
(1706)." No one ever doubted Mr. Bates' judgment; and he never 
had any of Robert Colling's blood, until he got it in Belvedere, Marske, 
and Red Rose, years after this. 

Mr. John Hutchinson, the banker and breeder, in the history of 
his own short-horns, comparing the cattle of the two Collings, and 
particularly in quality, " and their length of mossy hair, their neat- 
ness of shape, quick prominent eyes, and short legs," says : " Welling- 
ton and Barmpton were surely the neatest, the softest, and the 
shortest legged of his bulls, as was Moss Rose, of his cows, and had 
more highland-like hair — like all their descendants — than any I have 
seen of the Kettons (Charles Colling's)." And speaking of Robert 
Colling's cow Nonpareil, he says, " which I have heard called the 
finest cow (perhaps) ever seen." Mr. Hutchinson never used a bull 
of Mr. R. Colling's breeding, save two, but did several of Charles's, 
indeed as many as eight or nine, and was more interested in Charles's 
blood than in Robert's. 

It is evident that, at least, Charles Colling was not superior to 
Robert, as a breeder. 

Now let us see if Charles Colling was superior to the breeders of 
1785, the period when he commenced his breeding. The character 
of the famous bull Hubback is so well known, as the best bull the 
Collings ever owned, that not a word is necessary to establish this 
point. By common consent, every historian of short-horns re- 
cognizes the wonderful merit of Hubback. Major Rudd, a large 
purchaser at C. Colling's sale, says of Hubback, that he "was the 
main root of the improved short-horns ;" and Mr. Hutchinson says, 



SHORT-HORNS. 119 



" The bull Hubback being now pronounced the grand cause of im- 
provement of the Ketton and Barmptons, it behooves every breeder 
to prove his stock related to this wonderful animal." Yet Mr. Hun- 
ter bred Hubback, and not Charles Colling. 

Mr. Bates in a letter relating to his Duchess tribe of cattle, says, 
" I purchased my original cow of this tribe of cattle, of the late 
Charles Colling, Esq., of Ketton ; they had been in the possession of 
Mr. Colling twenty years, who purchased his original cow from Stan- 
wix, and called her Duchess, which Mr. C. Colling repeatedly assured 
me teas the best he ever had or ever saw, and that he never was able to 
improve upon her, although put to his best bulls." 

Mr. Charles Colling never bred out of the cow Lady Maynard, 
(Favorite), so good and fine a cow as she was herself. Mr. A. B. Allen, 
editor of the Agriculturist, in his " History and Traditions of Short- 
horn Cattle," says : " It was conceded by a company of old breeders 
in 1812, in discussing the question of the improvement of short- 
horns, that no stock of Mr. Colling's breeding ever equalled " Lady 
Maynard," the dam of Phoenix and grandam of Favorite." And Mr. 
Bates states the same as having again taken place in 1822, at an- 
other meeting of old breeders, of whom Mr. Colling was one ; and 
that Mr. C. himself admitted that he had never, in the descendants 
of Lady Maynard, bred anything better than herself. 

It is evident from these authorities, that Mr. C. Colling procured 
originally some animals, than which he never bred anything better ; 
and beside those named, this was the case with Haughton, by Hub- 
back, bought by Mr. Colling of Alexander Hall ; and the original of 
the Daisy tribe, bought of Mr. Waistel, of Great Burdon. There is 
no doubt that he obtained the very best material, for his breeding, to 
be had. His brother Robert did the same. 

Hutchinson says, "no breeders acted with so much foresight and 
sound policy — for who but themselves, would have thought of feed- 
ing any animal from calfhood until seven years of age, in so extrava- 
gant a manner as the White Heifer (and the Durham Ox) was fed 
and made a monster of. The scheme was a deep one, and succeeded 
to a miracle. She, (as well as the Durham ox,) was shown all over 
the kingdom, and raised the character of their breed, in the opinion 
of the world, to the highest pitch of eminence." 

Great credit is due to. the Messrs. Colling for the herds they 
reared and disseminated ; and while it is true that in their career 
they had the best herds then in existence, it is equally true that they 
never bred better animals than they procured originally, with which 
to commence breeding. 

The obvious and great merit of the Collings was, that they 
brought the short-horns into general notice, out of a local reputation, 
and made them as well known abroad as they were in the valley of 
the Tees river ; not that they improved on their good originals. 



120 CATTLE. 

4. Mr. C. Colling did not reduce the size of his short-horns, but, 
on the contrary, increased it. 

Hubback was a small bull. Mr. Berry, supposing a reduction of 
size aimed at, says, (at page 97,) "the quality of his flesh, hide, 
and hair are supposed to have been seldom equalled ; and as he was 
smaller than the Teeswater cattle, he was eminently calculated to 
forward Mr. Colling's views." Mr. Foss, in a letter to Mr. Hutchin- 
son, says the dam of Hubback was a " beautiful little short-horned 
cow." Smallness of size was then a family trait with Hubback. 

It is also known that Mr. Colling's cows, Haughton, by Hubback, 
bought of Alexander Hall ; Lady Maynard, and her daughter, Young 
Strawberry, bought of Mr. Maynard, were all small cows. Haughton 
was the dam of the bull Foljambe, (a large one,) bred by Mr. Col- 
ling, got by Barker's bull, (a very large one); Young Strawberry, 
the dam of Bolingbroke, (a medium sized bull,) got by Foljambe ; 
and Lady Maynard, the dam of Phcenix, (a very large cow). Fa- 
vorite — a very large bull — was got by Bolingbroke, out of Phoenix. 

Favorite was calved in 1793, eight years after C. Colling began to 
breed ; and beginning in 1795, he scarcely used any other bull for 
ten years ; putting him to his own daughters, even in the second 
generation, (as by Favorite, dam by Favorite, grandam by Favorite). 
In the catalogue of his sale, of the forty-seven animals named, forty- 
three were got by Favorite and his sons, and all save one were got 
by Favorite, his sons, and grandsons. 

Mr. R. Waistell, son of the Mr. Waistell who jointly with R. Col- 
ling owned Hubback, says as to Foljambe : — " He was a large strong 
bull, a useful, great, big, bong beast, of great substance." Mr. 
Waistell also says, " Favorite was a grand beast, very large, and 
open, had a fine brisket, with a good coat, and was as good a hand- 
ler as ever was felt." Mr. Allen, in his " History and Traditions," 
says, " Phcenix, the dam of Favorite, was a large open boned cow, 
with more horn, and altogether coarser than her dam, the beautiful 
Lady Maynard ;" and again, " Favorite was a large massy animal, 
partaking more of the character of his dam Phcenix, than that of his 
sire. He possessed remarkably good loins, and long level hind 
quarters ; his shoulder points stood wide, and were somewhat coarse, 
and too forward in the neck ; his horns also, in comparison with 
Hubback's, were long and strong." 

Col. Trotter, an old breeder, born in 1764, in a letter to Mr. 
Bates, says that " Barker's bull, (sire of Foljambe,) was a large coarse 
beast, with a large head." 

Of the get of Favorite, Mr. Berry, in his history — pages 99-104 — 
mentions two — the Durham Ox, and Robert Colling's White Heifer ; 
the ox's live weight was 3780 lbs! the heifer's dead weight at four 
years was estimated at 1820 lbs! Her live weight could not have 
been less than 2300 lbs ! doubtless the largest four year old short- 



SHORT-HORNS. 121 



horn heifer ever known. The Durham Ox was the largest short-horn 
one ever known, except the Spottiswood Ox. Mr. Colling fed and 
sold, in 1799, a heifer by Favorite, which Berry states in his first 
history, "weighed, at three years old, one hundred stones, (1400 
lbs!) within a few pounds." Her live weight must have been 1*700 
lbs. — a wonderful three year old heifer. 

It will be seen that here are three animals, the only ones bred by 
Colling whose weights are on record, that have no superiors (indeed 
where are their equals ?) in point of wonderful weight in all the re- 
cords of short-horns. 

To attain these extraordinary weights, they must not only have 
been very deep fleshed and very fat, but must have had large, very 
large, frames, to give the space to make such great weights. 

Can there be a doubt that Charles Colling increased the size of his 
cattle ? Mr. Berry in his first history mentions nothing of a reduc- 
tion of size, and nothing of the Galloway cross ; yet when he pro- 
poses in his second history to show the excellence of the alloy, as 
the Galloways are a very small breed, it became necessary to dis- 
cover that Mr. Colling had reduced the size of his cattle. Mr. Berry 
states, that Mr. Colling always " declined on all occasions to throw 
any light on his views and proceedings." Of course Berry got no 
authority from Mr. Colling for this alleged reduction of size, but is 
himself the originator of the supposition. Facts, and the history of 
the Short-Horns, contradict him. 

5. Hubback was a pure short-horn — had no Dutch blood ; and 
was vigorous until thirteen years of age, when he was killed. 

In his second history Berry says (page 97), " Hubback, an animal 
respecting which there has been much controversy, principally 
touching the purity of his blood, a question now of little importance, 
because it is admitted on all hands that Mr. Colling adopted another 
cross, which prevails in a majority of superior short-horns of the 
present day." " Without entering on an inquiry by what circum- 
stances Hubback's title to be considered of pure blood is supported 
or weakened, it may suffice to observe, that it appears 'probable he 
possessed on one side the imported [Dutch] blood. The possessor 
of his dam was a person in indigent circumstances, and grazed his 
cow in the highways. When afterwards she was removed to good 
land, near Darlington, she became so fat that she did not breed 
again ; and her son, having the same feeding propensity in a high 
degree, was useful as a bull during a very short period." Such is 
Mr. Berry's account. 

All the authorities for the impurity of Hubback's blood shall be 
quoted. 

Major Rudd in 1816 says, "The bull Hubback was descended 
from the stock of Sir James Pennyman, who, about the year 1770, 
paid much attention to the improvement of short-horned cattle, and 

6 



122 CATTLE. 

purchased the best bulls and cows he could procure. He purchased 
several cows of Sir Wm. St. Quintin, of Scampston, who was then 
celebrated for his breed of short-horned cattle. It is probable that 
Hubback may have been descended from this breed, but the fact can- 
not be ascertained.'" Again, in 1821, he says, " The sire of Hubback 
• was descended from the stock of Sir William St. Quintin. I was 
intimately acquainted with Sir James Penny man's steward, who has 
repeatedly assured me that Sir James told him that his breed was a 
cross between the old short-horn and the Alderney. Such, then, 
being the pedigree of Hubback, it follows that all the improved 
short-horns are a mixed breed." 

And again, in 1831, Major Rudd says, "The sire of Hubback be- 
longed to Mr. George Snowdon, who had been a tenant of Sir James 
Penny man, and by that means derived his bull. It is certain that 
the late Mr. Robert Colling believed the descent of that bull to be 
from the stock of Sir J. Pennyman and Sir Wm. St. Quintin; for in 
his catalogue of his stock in 1818, he deduces the pedigrees from 
their stock. Of this proof, I was not apprised when my Notes were 
published." 

That it may be seen what Major Rudd deems proof, derived from 
R. Colling's catalogue, all in that catalogue that relates to Pennyman 
and St. Quintin is given. It is the pedigree of one cow only — thus, 
" No. 3, Juno, by Favorite ; dam Wildair, by Favorite ; grandam, by 
Ben ; great grandam, by Hubback ; gi-eat great grandam, by sire 
(Snowdon's bull) of Hubback; great great great grandam, by Sir 
James Pennyman's bull, descended from the stock of the late Sir 
W. St. Quintin, of Scampston." It will be observed that here is no 
pedigree of Hubback. Major Rudd cites this pedigree to prove that 
Hubback was descended from Pennyman's stock, and that R. Colling 
so believed ; while it proves only that Hubback was used to bull a 
cow descended from Pennyman's stock. And all the proof used to 
show Ilubback's blood impure, is about as worthless as this. 

The proof to establish the purity of Hubback's blood is full and 
conclusive. In Coates' " Short-Horned Herd Book," his pedigree is 
thus given : 

" Hubback, yellow-red, and white, calved in 1*777, bred by Mr. 
John Hunter; got by Mr. George Snowdon's bull; dam (bred by 
Mr. John Hunter) by a bull of Mr. Banks's of Hurworth ; grandam 
bought of Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton. Hubback, by Snowdon's 
bull (d. from the Stock of Sir James Pennyman, and these from the 
Stock of Sir William St. Quintin, of Scampston) ; Snowdon's bull, 
by William Robson's bull, (bred by Mr. Waistell, of Great Burdon, 
near Darlington, dam Mr. Waistell's roan cow Barforth) ; William 
Robson's bull, by James Masterman's bull (bred by Mr. Walker, 
near Leyburn) ; James Masterman's bull, by the Studley bull, bred 
by Mr. Sharter of Chilton. 



SHORT-HORNS. 123 



" The following account of the pedigree of the dam of Hubback 
was given to the author (George Coates) by the undernamed person: 
" I remember the cow which my father bred, that was the dam of 
Hubback ;~ there was no idea then that she had any mixed or Kyloe 
blood in her. Much has been lately said, that she was descended 
from a Kyloe ; but I have no reason to believe, nor do I believe, that 
she had any mixture of Kyloe blood in her. 

John Hunter. 

Hurworth, near Darlington, July 6th, 1822." 

George Baker, Esq., of Elemore, in a letter to the Farmer's Jour- 
nal, 1821, says, "Attempts have been made, by hearsay evidence 
and otherwise, to question the blood of Hubback. I send you his 
pedigree. I have the authority of Mr. Charles Colling to say, he 
always considered him a thorough-bred short-homed bull. Mr. John 
Hunter, of Hurworth, who sold his dam, with Hubback at her foot, 
to Mr. Basnett, of Darlington, says, his father bought her grandam 
of Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton, and that she was a pure bred short- 
horn. Mr. Alexander Hall, of Sheraton Hill Top, who lived in that 
neighborhood, and remembers her and the calf perfectly well, says, she 
was a beautiful color and handler, and when she got on to good land 
near Darlington, she got so fat she would not breed again. Hub- 
back, he says, was got by Mr. Snowdon's bull, (a son of Mr. Rob- 
son's bull, of Dinsdale, who was bred by old Mr. Waistell, of Bur- 
don, a very noted breeder, and got by Mr. James Masterman's bull, 
of Coatham, near Darlington), and was a true bred short horn. The 
above gentleman will attest the same if necessary." 

Mr. Christopher Foss, in a letter to John Hutchinson, Esq., dated 
Nov. 30th, 1821, says, " According to your request, I called, on the 
22d instant, on John Hunter, bricklayer, of Hurworth, who informed 
me that his father was a tenant under Madam Bland. About fifty 
years ago [1771], as near as he could recollect, he left off farming, 
and came to Hurworth, having sold off all his cattle, except one 
beautiful little short-horned cow, which he brought along: with him. 
She went ever after in the lanes, he having no land. On calving to 
a bull belonging to Mr. George Snowdon, of Hurworth, a bull calf, 
she and her calf were taken to Darlington, and sold to a Quaker, 
who, the same day, resold her and her calf to a Mr. Basnett, timber 
merchant." 

Mr. Robert Waistell, of Darlington, son of Mr. "Waistell, of Alihill, 
owner with R. Colling of Hubback, says that " The farms of Barmp- 
ton and Alihill join each other. Robert Colling came to reside at 
Barmpton in 1783, having taken Barmpton farm in the spring of that 
year. He had previously resided at Hurworth. At that time Mr. 
Wm. Fawcett owned Hubback, and lived at Haughton Hill, where 
Hubback was kept and let to cows at one shilling a cow. Mr. Faw- 
cett bought Hubback when a calf of Mr. Basnett. My father pro- 



\<M CATTLE. 

posed to Robert Colling to buy the bull together, and on Good 
Friday, 1783, the two went to Haughton Hill, and asked a price of 
Fawcett for him, and ten guineas were asked. They bid him eight 
guineas, and Fawcett refused, and Mr. R. Colling would give no 
more. On the following Sunday my father went and bargained for 
the bull, and agreed to give ten guineas. On his way home, he met 
Robert Colling, and said, " I have bought Fawcett's bull at ten 
guineas ;" and Colling said, " I will take half," and so it was agreed. 
My father went, for the bull next day, Monday, and paid the ten- 
guineas. The two owned him together during the summer of 1783. 
My father had eleven cows served by him, and Colling had seven- 
teen, in the season. In November following, Charles Colling said to 
my father, that as they were done with the bull for the season, he 
would give them eight guineas for him ; my father replied he was 
willing, if Robert was, and so they sold the bull. It was a condi- 
tion of the sale of my father's part, that he should have all his cows 
served by the bull, as long as Charles Colling owned him. In Feb- 
ruary, 1784, my father wanted a cow served by the bull, and sent 
her to Ketton. Mr. C. Colling sent the man, who took the cow, back 
to my father, to say that the bull should serve the cow, but he would 
charge five guineas for it. My father sent the man to Ketton for 
the cow, and brought her away unserved ; and he had no cows 
served by the bull afterwards. Charles Colling kept the bull two 
years, and then sold him to Mr. Hubback, of Northumberland. The 
bull was called Hubback's bull for many years after Colling sold him. 
I have heard these facts many times from my father and R. Colling. 

Mr. Alexander Hall, in a letter to Mr. Thomas Bates, the cele- 
brated breeder, under date of Feb. 14, 1820, says, "I was born in 
the year 1754, and resided the most of my life at Haughton. Mr. 
Thomas Hall, with whom I lived until his death, resided there, and 
was a breeder of short-horns for thirty years, before 1778. I knew 
Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton, Mr. Colling, of Skermingham, father of 
Robert and Charles, Mr. Waistell, of Great Burdon, Mr. Robson, of 
Dinsdale, Mr. Bamlet, of Norton, Mr. Fawcett, of Haughton Hill, 
Mr. Hunter, Mr. Snowdon, and Mr. Banks of Hurworth, and I was 
well acquainted with their cattle. After the death of Mr. Thomas 
Hall, I was a breeder of short-horns, and sold a cow to Charles Col- 
ling and two to Robert. I used Snowdon's bull and Fawcett's bull, 
(afterwards called Hubback.) Mr. Hunter got his cattle of Mr. 
Stephenson, of Ketton, and Mr. Banks got his of Mr. Waistell, of 
Great Burdon. Mr. Snowdon went to live at Hurworth about the 
year 1773. He bred his bull, the sire of Hubback, after he went to 
Hurworth, and he was got by Mr. Robson's bull. 

" In that day I never heard that any of these gentlemen had Dutch 
or Kyloe blood in their cattle, and they were all noted for the good- 
ness of their short-horns." 



SHORT-HORNS. 125 



Again, under date of March 20th, 1 820, Alexander Hall, in a cer- 
tificate given to Mr. Bates, says, " John Hunter, of Hurworth, was a 
mason. He bred Hubback. Hubback's dam was got b} 7 a bull 
owned by Mr. Banks, of Hurworth. Banks's bull had a great belly, 
but was out of a handsome cow owned by Mr. Banks. John Hunter 
bought the grandam of Hubback of Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton. Mr. 
Snowdon's cow that produced ' Snowdon's bull,' was a very hand- 
some one, and remarkable for her wide hips, and fine quick eyes." 

Mr. Hutchinson, the banker, and breeder, says of Hubback, " It 
behooves every breeder to prove his own stock related to this wonder- 
ful animal (if he can) ; which I conceive by no means difficult to do, 
as no bull (as I will show) has been more easy of access. He served 
three years at Mr. Fawcett's, near Haughton, at one shilling a cow, 
before the late Robert Colling and Mr. Waistell purchased him. Mr. 
Waistell, during the nine or ten months he remained a partnership 
bull, had his twelve breeding short-horned cows served by him, and 
he was open and free to the whole neighborhood during that period. 
Mr. Charles Colling became possessed of him in October, 1783 ; he 
was then rising five years old ; his price not more than £8 8s. 

" But I am by no means reconciled to the idea that Mr. Colling 
himself ever thought so highly of this bull, as it is now confidently 
held out, (for lie kept him only two years) ; otherwise would he have 
parted with him at seven years old, a nameless bull ? for it is well 
known that he was not called Hubback till many yeai-s after he had 
been sold to a gentleman of that name, (Hubback,) at North Seaton 
in Northumberland. 

" A dissension has arisen amongst the Ketton and Barmpton breed- 
ers ; and all those who have cattle descended from the Grandson of 
Lord Bolingbroke — or what is now called the alloy-blood — want to 
prove that there was Scotch blood in Hubback ; and, as this can- 
not be done on the dam's side, they go back to Sir James Penny- 
man, though I do not believe there is a tittle of evidence to prove that 
Hubback was descended from his stock ; the only reason they have 
for supposing so is, that Mr. Snowdon was a tenant of Sir James. I 
believe I had the last conversation on this subject with poor George 
Snowdon myself, about three months before his death, and he cer- 
tainly said that was the case, that his bull was descended from Sir 
James's stock, but in what degree, or hmv related, he knew no more 
than the man-in-the-moon. Mr. George Snowdon came to Hurworth 
in 1774: so much for the credibility of George Snowdon having 
brought this bull with him out of Cleveland, and of his having de- 
scended from the stock of the late Sir James Pennyman." 

Mr. Snowdon was a tenant under Sir J. Pennyman, near Ormsby 
in Cleveland, and gave up his farm there, and came to the parish of 
Hurworth in 1774, and was a tenant under Mrs. Bland, widow of 
James Bland, Esq., who died in 1770. 



126 CATTLE. 

Sir James Pennyman came to the title and estate of his family in 
the year 1770, by succeeding his uncle, Sir Wartron. He found a 
herd of short-horns on his estate when he came to possession, and 
they had been there very many years, and came originally from the 
Aislabies. Their excellence in the lifetime of his uncle Sir William, 
fourth baronet, was extraordinary. A memorandum book in posses- 
sion of the family in 1848, shows that, in 1767, a cow six years old, 
eating nothing but grass, and giving milk, was killed, and her dead 
weight was 100 stones and upwards — more than 1400 lbs. ; and an- 
other of the same age, and treated in a like manner, was estimated 
to weigh 10 stones (140 lbs.) more, 1540 lbs. dead weight. 

Sir James Pennyman commenced breeding In 1770, and in 1773 
got his first cattle of Sir Wm. St. Quintin. Now George Snowdon 
left Cleveland in the spring of 1774, and took with him six cows. 
As these were coivs in 1774, and of course calved before 1773, they 
could not be descended from the St. Quintin blood in possession of 
Sir James Pennyman. Robson lived at Dinsdale, two miles from 
Hurworth. The dam of Snowdon's bull (the sire of Hubback) was 
bred to Robson's bull the first year Snowdon came to Hurworth. 
Snowdon's bull was calved in 1775, and in 1776 got Hubback, who 
was calved in 1777. 

Thus it is evident that if Snowdon's cows had the Pennyman blood, 
it was of a period prior to the infusion of the St. Quintin blood. But 
" in what degree, or how related" to Sir James Pennyman's blood, 
Snowdon " knew no more than the man-in-the-moon." 

Hubback, it is well known, was sold by Mr. Colling to Mr. Hub- 
back, of Northumberland, in 1785. Mr. Hubback used him up to 
1791, when he was fourteen years old, and the bull was vigorous to 
the last. Mr. Bates saw him and calves got by him in 1791, — 
the calves got in 1790. 

Hubback was therefore a pure short-horn, and did not become im- 
potent. 

6. The Galloway cross was made by chance ; and the alloy stock 
had no value, except as conferred by the short-horn blood in them, 
and in spite of the Galloway strain. 

In the first volume of Coates' Herd Book, page 102, is the follow- 
ng : — " O'Callaghan's Son of Bolingbroke, red and white, bred by 
Colonel O'Callaghan, of Heighington, got by Bolingbroke, dam a red 
polled Galloway Scotch cow. This cow and another of the same 
breed, were purchased of Mr. David Smurthwaite, near Northaller- 
ton, by Mr. George Coates, who sold them to Col. O'Callaghan. 
O'Callaghan's Son of Bolingbroke, when a few days old, became the 
property of Mr. C. Colling, and was the sire of Grandson of Boling- 
broke." 

Col. O'Callaghan lived near Ketton, and when he got these two 
Galloways in 1791, he arranged with Mr. Colling to bull them, and 



1 



SHORT-HORNS. 127 



by agreement, Mr. Colling was to have the bull calves, and the Col- 
onel to retain the heifers. One dropped a heifer, and the other a 
bull calf, in 1792; the latter, by the bargain, was Mr. Colling's. 
He was kept a bull until about a year old. Johanna, (u very mode- 
rate cow,) got by the Lame bull, (a very moderate one,) not having 
bred for two years, was, in 1793, turned to run with this young bull ; 
he got her in calf, and was then castrated and fed as a steer, and 
was never used to any other cow. In 1794 Johanna dropped a bull 
calf, the Grandson of Bolingbroke, one fourth Galloway. If this 
cross had been made to improve the short-horns, would Mr. Collino- 
have used his poorest cow, old Johanna, to do it with ? Old Phoe- 
nix produced Favorite in Oct. 1793, and had no calf in 1794, nor 
1795, and, during all that time, was bulled by Bolingbroke and other 
bulls of the pure blood, until, as a last hope, she was turned into the 
straw-yard in the winter of 1795-96, to run with this Grandson of 
Bolingbroke, and he got her in calf; and she in the autumn of 1796 
dropped the cow, Lady. Mr. Colling never used this Grandson of 
Bolingbroke to any other cow. Lady's first calf was Washington. 
Mr. Colling used him to only three or four cows one season, and 
these produced nothing of any particular value. He was used by 
Mr. Colling' no more ; and he never used any other bull out of her 
or her daughters. The alloy in his hands was confined to Lady, her 
daughters, and the produce of her daughters. He never suffered 
that blood to run into his Daisy tribe, his Duchess tribe, nor the rest 
of his Lady Maynard tribe. 

This alloy family was always extraordinarily deficient in milk, and 
at the sale in 1810, giving little milk, were most remarkable for their 
high condition, and this sold them well. 

The family of Lady, her daughters, and the produce of her 
daughters, numbered thirteen at the sale of Mr. Colling, in 1810, 
and were far more numerous than any other. No other family num- 
bered over Jive. The alloy family sold for 2082 guineas, and aver- 
aged 160 guineas; the Phoenix family, including Comet, averaged 
491 g's., and without Comet averaged 237 g's. ; and the Daisy fam- 
ily averaged 175 g's. The pure blood brought higher prices than 
the alloy ; and in the leading families of the pure blood made higher 
averages. No other family could make so great an aggregate. 

At this day in England they have ceased to claim any merit for 
the Galloway cross, and freely admit that it did no good, and that 
where animals having it are good, they are so in spite of that cross, 
not in consequence of it; but from their short-horn blood. 

The most extraordinary sales of short-horns in modern days, were 
those of the herds of Earl Spencer and Mr. Bates ; and these 
breeders wholly rejected and avoided the Galloway alloy, as did Mr. 
Mason, (the contemporary and intimate friend of Mr. Colling) from 
whom Lord Spencer derived his cattle. 



128 



CATTLE. 



Mr. Youatt, contradicting Berry in his claim of the value of this 
alloy blood, says, (page 99,) " The dam of Lady was Phoenix, also 
the dam of the bull Favorite, and as the Grandson of Bolingbroke is 
not known to have been the sire of any other remarkably good ani- 
mal, it is most probable that the unquestionable merit of Lady and 
her descendants is to be attributed more to her dam than to her 



This account of the Galloway cross was derived from Mr. Bates, 
of Kirkleavington, who had it from Mr. Colling, and knew it of his 
own knowledge. 

Mr. Berry barely names Mr. Robert Colling, and gives only a 
summary of his sale. R. Colling was quite as distinguished as his 
brother Charles, and bred cattle at least as good. When C. Col- 
ling sold his cattle in 1S10, all was inflation and war prices. Robert's 
sale was in 1818, amidst the depression of the agricultural interest, 
consequent on a return of peace. Compared with the other agri- 
cultural prices of the two periods, Robert's sale was higher in prices 
than Charles's. R. Colling's and Sir Henry "Vane .Tempest's sales 
are given. In Mr. R. Colling's, one cow brought 370> within 40 
guineas of Mr. C. Colling's highest priced cow; and one bull 621 
guineas, far higher than any one in C. Colling's sale except Comet. 
All agricultural products were in 1840 double the prices of 1818. 

Catalogue of Mr. Robert Colling's Sale of Short-Horned Cattle, 

September, 18] 8, at Baroipton. 

COWS. 



Age 


!. Names. 


Sire. 


Dam. 


Price. 
Gs. 


BuyeT. 


]T, 


Red Rose, 


Favorite, 


By Ben, 




Sick and not offered 


11. 


Moss Bose, 


do., 


Bed Rose, 


, 


Not offered. 


11, 


Juno, 


do., 


Wildair by Favorite, 


78, 


Simpson & .Smith. 


4, 


Diana, 


do., 


Wildair, 


73, 


Lord Althorp. 


• r >, 


Sally, 


do., 


By Favorite, 


34, 


Simpson & Smith. 


9, 


Charlotte, 


Comet, 


Cathaline, 


50, 


Mr. Brown. 


6 a 


Wildair, 


George, 


Wildair by Favorite, 


176, 


C. Duncomb. 


6, 


Lilly, 


North Star, 


By Favorite, 


66, 


Mr. Skipworih. 


6, 


Golden Pippin, 


North Star. 


do.. 


141, 


Mr. Cattle. 


6, 


Black well, 


Wellington, 


Of Mr. Hill's Stock 


31, 


• T. Hopper. 


6, 


Tulip, 


George, 


By Favorite, 


70, 


C. Tib-bets. 


(i. 


Trinket, 


Barinpiom, 


do., 


143. 


Simpson & Smith. 


6, 


Mary Anne, 


George, 


do., 


62, 


do. 


5, 


Louisa, 


Wellington, 


do., 


37, 


do. ■ 


5, 


Empress, 


Barmpton, 


Lady Grace, 


210, 


C. Champion. 


5, 


Caroline, 


Minor, 


Wildair by Favorite, 


160, 


H. Witham. 


4, 


Clarissa, 


Wellington, 


By Favorite, 


151, 


Mr. Robsoir. 


5, 


5 Young Moss 
\ Rose, 
Venus, 


do., 


Moss Rose, 


190, 


C. Duncomb. 


5, 


do., 


By George, 


195, 


Simpson & Smith. 


5, 


Rosette, 


do., 


Bed Rose, 


300, 


Lord Althorp. 


3, 


< Young Char- 
l lot'te. 
Vesper, 


do., 


Charlotte, 


72, 


Mr. Thomas. 


S, 


do., 


By Favorite, 


in, 


Mr. White. 


5, 


Nonpareil, 


do., 


Juno, 


370, 


Lord Althorp. 


3, 


Daisy, 


do., 


By Favorite, 


32, 


Simpson & Smith. 


3, 


Kate, 


do., 


By Phenomenon, 


59, 


H. Witham- 



SHORT-HORNS. 



129 







HEIFERS. 






Age. Naraos. 


Sire. 


Dam. 


Prices. 
Gs. 


Buyer. 


2, Amelia, 


Lancaster, 


By North Star, 


76, 


Mr. Mayna»d. 


2, Aurora, 


do., 


do., 


78, 


Mr. Smith. 


2, Princess, 


do., 


Golden Pippin, 


156, 


Mr. Skipworth. 


2, Clara, 


do, 


Venus, 


190, 


Mr. Thomas. 


2, Fanny, 


Wellington, 


Sally, 


160, 


C. Tibbets. 


2, White Rose. 


do., 


By Wellington, 


51, 


Mr. Smith. 


2,- Ruby, 


do, 


Red Rose, 


331, 


Mr. Robson. 


2, Lavina, 


Lancaster, 


Young Moss Rose, 


105, 


do. 


2, Hebe, 


Jupiter, 


Lily, 

Of Mr. Hill's Stock. 


90, 


Mr. Thompson. 


2, Jesse, 


Wellington, 


43, 


Mr. Hutchinson. 


2, Jewell, 


do., 


do., 


50, 


Mr. Brown. 




HEIFER CALVES. 






Names. 


Sire. 


Dam. 


Price 
Gs 


Buyer. 


Violet, 


North-Star, 


By Midas, 


48, 


Mr. Skipworth 


Sweet-brier, 


do , 


Nonpareil, 


145, 


Mr. Maynard. 


Snowdrop, 


Wellington, 


Tulip, 


71, 


Mr. Thompson. 


Cowslip, 


do., 


By Favorite, 


54, 


Mr. Lay ton. 


Lady Anne, 


do., 


By George, 


100, 


Mr. Barnes. 


Flora, 


Lancaster, 


Sally, 


47, 


Mr. Thompson. 


Cleopatra, 


do., 


By George, 


133, 


Mr. Barnes. 




do., 


Clarissa, 


52, 


Mr. Kobson. 




do. 


Trinket 


56 


Mr. Wiley. 
Simpson & Smith. 
Mr. Cattle. 
Mr. Smith. 
C. Champion. 




"Wellington 


By Wellington, 
Mary Anne, 


28' 




Lancaster 


42' 




do. 


3S' 
100, 




Barmpton, 


Empress, 






do. 


B osette 


123, 

55 


Mr. Kobson. 
Maj. Rudd. 
Simpson & Smith. 




do.' 


Charlotte, 
Trinket, 




do!^ 


110^ 






do., 


By Cleveland, 


.80, 


Mr. White. 








BULLS. 






Age. Names. 


Sire. 


Dam. 


Price. 
Gs. 


Buyer. 


12, Marske, 


Favorite, 


Brighteyes, 
By Punch, 


50, 


Mr. Maynard. 


11, North Star, 


do, 


72, 


T. Lax. 


10, Midas, 


Phenomenon, 


Red Rose, 


270, 


Mr. Wiley. 


8, Barmpton, 


George, 


Moss Rose, 


— 


Not offered. 


5, Major, 


Wellington, 


By Phenomenon 


185, 


Mr. Brooks. 


4, Lancaster, 


do., 


Moss Rose, 


621, 


Simpson & Smith. 


3, Baronet, 


do., 


Red Rose, 


— 


Not offered. 


3, Regent, 


do., 


By Windsor, 


145, 


Lord Al thorp. . 




BULL CALVES. 






Names. 


Sire. 


Dam. 


Price 
Gs. 


Buyer. 


Diamond, 


Lancaster, 


Venus, 


102, 


Mr. Donaldson. 


Albion, 


do., 


By Wellington, 


140, 


Mr. Russel. 


Harold, 


Wellington 


Wildair, 


201, 


Mr. Whitaker. 


Pilot, 


Major or 
Wellington 


Red Rose, 


270, 


Mr. Booth. 



Total, £7853 for 61 animals. 



130 



CATTLE. 



Catalogue of Sir Henry Vane Tempest's Short-Horned Cattle, sold by his Executors 
after his death, October, 1813, at Wynyard. 

COWS. 



Age. Names. 



Sire. 



Favorite, 

do., 
Phenomenon, 

do., 
Wynyard, 
Phenomenon, 
do., 
do., 
Comet, 
Phenomenon, 
Peg Woflington, Wynyard, 
Angelina, Phenomenon, 

Bed Rose, do., 



13, Princess, 

10, 
9, 
6, 
4, 
I, 
4, 
4, 
:'., 
8, 
3, 
8, 
6, 



Anna Boleyn, 

Elvira, 

Trinket, 

Paroquet, 

Nell Gvvynn, 

Alexina, 

Tulip, 

Calista, 

Trifle, 



Dam. 

5 Brighteyes by Fa- 
\ vorite, 

Princess, 
do., 

Tragedy, 



Princess, 

Anna Boleyn, 

Tragedy, 

Cora, 

Tragedy, 

Princess, 

Anna Boleyn, 



Price. 
Gs. 

36, 

76, 
96, 
45, 
52, 
68, 
41, 
87, 
112, 
58, 
27, 
63, 
36, 



Buyer. 

Countess of Antrim. 
Sir Henry's widow. 
Mr. Mills. 
Mr. Binns. 
Mr. Parrington. 
It. Wilkinson. 
John Wood. 
Mr. Vansittart. 
Mr. Mills. 

do. 
Mr. Vansittart. 

do. 
Countess of Antrim. 
Mr. Bobson. 



HEIFERS. 



Age. Names. 

2, Young Tragedy, 

2, Matchless, 

1, Artless, 

1, Helen, 



Sire. 

Wynyard, 
Phenomenon, 
Wynyard, 
do., 



Dam. 

Tragedy, 
Matron, 
Anna Boleyne, 
Elvira, 



Price. 
Gs. 



Buyer. 



70, Mr. Bower. 

40, Mr. Hutchinson. 

56, Sir B. Graham. 

71, Mr. Cook. 



Names. 

Patch,* 

Careless, 
Peeress,* 



Sire 



HEIFER CALVES. 

Dam. 



Wynyard, 
do., 
do., 



Calista, 



* Grades, half blood. 



Prioe. 
Gs. 

11, 

54, 
16, 



Buyer. 

R. Wilkinson. 
Mr. Bower. 
Mr. Smith. 



Names. 

Noble, 
Albion, 
Pilot, 



Sire. 

Wynyard, 
do., 
do., 



BULL CALVES. 

Dam. 

Nell Gwynn, 
Anna Boleyn, 
Princess, 



Price. 
Gs. 



Bayer. 



51, Mr. Jackson. 

52, Rev.G. Barrington. 
42, Countess of Antrim. 



Age. 



Name. 



7, Wynyard, 
1, Wellington, 



Phenomenon, 
Wynyard, 



BULLS. 

Dam. 

Princess, 
Alexina, 



Price. 
Gs. 

210, 
71, 



Total, ,£1618 for 25 animals. 



Buyer. 

Mr. Mills. 
Countess of Antrim. 



SHORT-HORNS. 131 



Of the breeders contemporaneous with the Collings, the most 
prominent were Sir Henry Vane Tempest, Col. John Trotter, and 
Mr. Mason. These gentlemen all derived their animals to commence 
with from the Ketton and Barm p ton herds ; Sir Henry's and Col. 
Trotter's being entirely from Robert Colling. It was the singular 
fortune of the Colonel, to sell three cows to Col. Melish for 2100 
guineas, (£2210,) a high evidence of the superiority of his breeding, 
and the excellence of his cattle. Col. Melish resold one of the three 
to Major Bower for 800 guineas. This was just twice the price of 
the highest of the cows in Charles Colling's sale. Col. Trotter bred 
that very superior bull Baron, (58,) sold to Mr. Duncomb at a very 
high price. He was used with great success by Mr. Duncomb. 

Mr. Mason was coeval nearly with the Collings, and continued 
breeding until 1829, when he sold, and his herd realized great prices. 
The leading purchaser was Lord Althorp, (afterwards Earl Spencer,) 
who reared a large and valuable stock from this source, which num- 
bered about 150 when he died ; they were by his legatee, Mr. Hall, 
sold for very great prices, one bull reaching 400 and another 3Y0 
guineas, and some cows going to 200 guineas. 

Sir Henry Vane Tempest of Wynyard, was clearly the leading 
breeder other than the Collings, during the period of the existence 
of the Ketton and Barmpton herds ; and so far as permanent influ- 
ence on the present short-horns is concerned, the best breeder. He 
commenced by the purchase from Robert Colling of a cow of his 
very extraordinary Princess tribe. From her are descended the 
famous and unsurpassed tribe of the Princess family, so distinguished 
in this day ; and which is now, in its pure state, in England, solely in 
the possession of Mr. John Stephenson, of Wolviston, county of 
Durham.* Sir Henry died in 1813, and his widow, the Countess of 
Antrim, continued the Wynyard herd till 1818, when she sold off 
her cattle. At her sale Mr. Stephenson purchased the cow Ange- 
lina, of the Princess family, and from her he has reared his present 
herd of that tribe, of which his cattle wholly consists. 

Of the breeders of the present day, Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Bates 
of Kirkleavington, are more distinguished for the high style and 
quality of their cattle than any others in England. As a bull breeder, 
Mr. Stephenson has no equal. Mr. Bates commenced his breeding 
with the Duchess tribe, the last of which, owned by C. Colling, he 
bought, and until his death in 1849, it remained wholly in his pos- 
session. It has now been distributed at very large prices. Mr. 
Bates resorted to Mr. Stephenson's blood, and through Mr. Stephen- 
son's bull Belvedere, [1*706,] greatly improved his short-horns. His 
prominent prize animals were got by Belvedere. 

* The only other persons possessing females of this blood in its pure state, are Col. 
Sherwood, and Ambrose Stevens, of New York. They derived theirs from Mr. Ste- 
phenson, and in 1849 and '50 imported eight heifers and cows from him. 



:(/. 



iwttu;. 




HBAD OF MR. 8TKPI11 I I I \i\ 111 \ I D I I m. w \ m ..i; i < m i. 

The above out of the head of Mr. Stephenson's celebrated bull 
Waterloo presents to the reader the verj perfection of a fine short 
horn head, The horn is small) well plaoed and regular; the fore 
head is broad and indented; the eye large, prominent, and bright, 
yet placid ; the nose small and tapering . the muzzle fine and clean . 
the m 'i i il wide and large; the lips thin and delicate; the cheek 

lliin, clear, and line; llirmvlv small nl the union \\ i ( 1 1 I li<- head ; 

the throat clean and well out up ; l>ho whole I wad small and beauti 
ful, \<'t grand, and snowing great oom titution and stamina, Buoh a 
head will always have oonneoted with ii quality of the very highest 
kind good hair good handling good uosh feeding capuoity. 
Bo far. the American Editor; and Mr. Jfouutl now resumes, 



TIIK SHOUT lloitNS. m 



The Voi I. hire cow, which now almost exclusively occupies the 
London dairies, is an unanswerable proof of the po ibilih ol uni 
i In- i, wo qualitie ■ to great dogr< e oj »< rfei Lion, but m>i ni the taitu 
linn they ucceed to each other, ana at the periods when it suits 
Hie convenience of the dairyman that they should. Ifears ago the 
Jfork ihirc cow was, compared with othei breed , a i great a favorite 
in tin- London mark* i a ;ii pre ent. She yielded more milk, in pi" 
portion to the quantity of i""<l consumed, than could be obtained 
from any othei breed , but when the dairyman had had hoi foui 01 
live yc 11 , he began to fall off, and he dried her and sold her, It 
loos a long time to gi t much flesh upon her ; and when he cal 
1 Lh( ■ pen te oi bringing bei into condition, lie found that bis 
cheapest way wa to s< n bei f"i what she would fetch, and that sel 
dom <• i ceeded 67, 

\',y degrees, however, the more intelligent of the brledei began 
to find Miii, l«v cautiou ly adopting the principle of selection by 
finding out a snort born bull whose progeny wore generally milkei 
and cro ling some oi the old STorkshires with him, but still regard 
ing the milking properties oi the dam, and the usual tendency to 

f)OMMr : . these qualities in the offspring "I the sire, they coutd at 
ength obtain •■>. breed that bad much oi the grazing properties oi the 
short horn in the new, breed, and retained 1 , almost undiminished the 
excellences of the old breed f"i the pail Thence it be happened 
that many of the cows in the London dairies are a inn |,< ■ imen 1 of 
the improved short-horns as can possibly !"■ produced] They do 
not, perhaps, yield quite much null', ai the old ones, but what they 
do yield is of better quality ; and whether the dairyman keeps them 
a twelvemonth or lon"<-i iu»l i.ln. is getting more and more the 
habit of 1I' 1 e people 01 whether be milks them for three or foui 
)'■■■'! 1 -.on .1. Ik: r|iic: ( i.inin, tiny fatten as rapidly as the most 
celebrated '>i the high bred shoi t bo 

w<: give a fair specimt n oi one oi the e cows the character oi the 
rlolderne and the short-horn beautifully mingling A milch cow 
good foi the pail a 1 long as wanted, and then quickly got into mat 
'< condition, should have a long and rather small head ; a large 
headed cow will seldom fatten or yield much milk. The eye bould 
be bright, yet peculiarly placid and quiet in expression ; the chaps 
thin, and the horns small. 'I be necli should Dot !«• so thin a 1 com 
moil opinion has given to the n » 1 1 < - 1 1 cow. 11. nay be thin towards 
the head ; but it must soon begin to thicken, and especially when it 
approaches the ihoulder, The dewlap should be small; thebrea t, 
if not iridi 1 in ome that have an unusual di po ition to fatten, 
yet very I'm from being narrow, and it hould projei t b< ton the l< g 1 , 
the chine, to a certain degree lie hy, and even inclining to fullness ; 
firth behind the shouldei ihould be deepei than it is usually 
found in the short-horn i the ribs should spread out wide, so 



i:m 



CATTLE. 



^iv<'. :ih round ;i form m possible to the carcass, and each should 
project farther than the preceding one i" the very loins, giving, if 
aftei all the milch cow mu»i be n little wider below than above, yet 
pj much breadth as cap possibly be afforded to the more valuable 
parts She ihould be well formed across the bips and on the rump, 
and with greater length there than the milker generally possesses, or 
if a little too bort, not beavy. If she stands a little Ion"; on the legs, 
it inn:;!, not I"' too long. The thighs somewhat thin, with a slig'ht 
tendency to crookedness in the hock, or being sickle bammed behind: 
the tail thick at the upper part, but tapering below ; and she should 
nave a mellow bide, and little coarse bair. Common opinion bos 
given to ber large milk veins; and although the mils vein bas 
nothing to do with the udder, but conveys the blood from the fore 
part oi the chest and sides to the inguinal vein, yet a lurge milk 
vein certainly indicates a strongly developed vascular system one 
favorable to secretion generally, and to that of the milk among the 
rest, 




Tlll'l VORKHIIIKli COW. 



The Last essential in a milch cow is the udder, rather large in pro 
portion to the sice of the animal, but not too large, li must be 
mffli iently oapaoious to contain the proper quantity of milk, but not 



THE SHORT-HORNS. i:*r. 



too bulky, lest it should thicken and become loaded with fat. The 
skin of tin' odder should be thin, and free from lumpa in every part 
of it, The teats should be of moderate size ; at equal distance! from 
each other every way ; and of equal lize from the odder to nearly 
the ''iid, where they should run to a kind of point. When they are 
too large near the udder, they permit the mill to How down too 
freely from the bag, and lodge in them ; and when tbey are too 
broad at the extremity, the on lire i . often o large that the cow can 
not retain her milk after the bag begini to be lull and heavy. The 
odder should be of nearly equal size before and behind, or, if there 
be any difference, it should be broadei and fuller before than behind. 

The quantity of milk given by some of these cows is very great. 
1 1. is by no means uncommon for them, in the beginning of the um 
mer, to yield 80 quarts a day ; there are rare instance i of their hav 
ing given •')'; quarts; but the average may be estimated at 22 or 24 
quarts. It, is said that t,his milk does not jrield a proportionate 
quantity of butter. That their milk does not contain tne same pro- 
portionate quantity of butter as that from the long horns, the Scotch 
cattle, or tne Devons, is probably true ; but we have res ton to be 

lieve that the difference has been much exa rated, and is more 

than compensated by the additional quantity of milk, The prejudice 
again t. them on this account was very great, and certain experiment i 
wci'' made, By the result of which it. wa i made to appear that the 
milk of the Kyloe cow yielded double the quantity "i' butter that 
could be produced from that of the short-horn. Two ounces were 
obtained from the milk of the Kyloe, and one from that of the short 
hoi n. 

This aroused the advocates of the short horns, and tbey instituted 
their experiments, the null, of which was much less to the disad 
vantage of the breed. Mr. Bailey, in bis survey of Durham, gives an 
account of an experiment made hy Mr. Walton of Middleton, 

He took from bis dairy six cow, promiscuously, and obtained the 
following quantity of butter from a quart of the milk of each of 
them : — 

No. I, '■'> <>■/.. 6 dwts.i No. 2, l <>/.. 6 dwts.; No, 3, l oz. 12 dwts.; 

No. I, I oz. 10 dwl: .; No. '■>, I OZ. 11 dwtS.J No. o, I oz. dwtS.J 
total, 10 oz. 8 dwts.; which, divided hy 0, leaves nearly I oz. II, 

dwts., or about \ of the weight of butter from the milk of a short, 

horn thai, the same quantity of milk from a Kyloe yielded. 'I hen, 

the increased quantity Of milk yielded hy the. short, horn j/avc her 

decidedly the preference, so far as the simple, produce was con- 
cerned. 
This experiment brought to light another good quality in the 

short, horn, which, jf not, altogether unsuspected, was not, sufficiently 
acted Upon that I he improved as a dairy COW as he got old'T. The 
COW, a quart Of Whose milk produced more than 8 OZ. Of butter, wan 



130 CATTLE. 

six years old,. the other five were only two years old; the experi- 
ments proved that her milk was richer at six years old, than it had 
been at two. This deserves investigation: 

Another circumstance is somewhat connected with such an in- 
quiry. The Kyloe and the long-horn cattle seem to care little about 
change of situation and pasture ; but the short-horn is not so easily 
reconciled to a change ; and her milk is not at first either so abun- 
dant or so good as it afterwards becomes. 

There is a great difference in the quantity of food consumed by 
different breeds of cattle, and that the short-horns occupy the high- 
est rank among the consumers of food is evident enough ; but we 
never could be' persuaded that the difference of size in' the same 
breed made any material difference in the appetite, or the food con- 
sumed. When they stand side by side in the stall or the cow-house, 
and experience has taught us the proper average quantity of food, 
the little one eats her share, and the larger one seldom eats more, 
even when it is put before her. There are occasional differences in 
the consumption of food by different animals, but these arise far 
oftener from constitution, or frbm.sOme unknown cause, than from 
difference in size. Experience does, however, prove, bevond the 
possibility of doubt, that the larger cattle, the breed and other cir- 
cumstances being the same, yield the greatest quantity of milk. 

Experience has also proved another thing — that the good grazing 
points of a cow, and even her being in fair store condition, do not 
necessarily interfere with her milking qualities. They prove that she 
has the disposition to fatten about her, but which will, not be called 
into injurious exercise until, in the natural process of time, or de-. 
signedly, she. is dried. She will yield nearly as much milk as her 
unthrifty neighbor, and milk of a superior quality, and at four, five, 
or six years old, might be pitted against any Kyloe, in the quality of 
her milk, while we have the pledge that it will cost little to prepare 
her for the butcher, when done as a milker. On this principle 
many of the London dairymen now act, when they change their cows 
so frequently. 

The following observations were made by Mr. Calvert, of Brampton, 
on the quantity of butter yielded by one of his short-horns. The 
milk was kept and churned separately from that of the other stock, 
and the following is the number of pounds of butter obtained in each 
week,— 7, .10, 10, 12, 17, 13, 13, 13, 1*5, 16, 15, 12, 13, 13, 13, 14, 
14, 13, 12, 12, 13, 11, 12, 10, 10, 8, 10, 9, 10, 7, 1, 7. 

There were churned 373. pounds of butter in the space of 32 weeks. 
The cow gave 28 quarts of milk per da} 7 , about Midsummer, and 
would average nearly 20 quarts per day for 20 weeks. She gave 
more milk when, pastured in the summer than when soiled in the 
house, in consequence of the very hot weather. She was lame six 
weeks from foul in the feet, which lessened the quantity of milk, 



SHORT-HORNS. 



137 



LINCOLNSHIRE. 



There is a large, coarse short-horn prevailing, particularly in Lin- 
colnshire, denominated in the quotations of the Smithfield markets 
" Lincolns," but they have no further affinity with the improved 
short-horns than as the latter have been referred to for their improve- 
ment, which has been accomplished to a considerable degree. 







LINCOLNSHIRE OX. 



Breeders, with judgment, called in the aid of the short-horn, and 
speedily and effectually completed their object. They took away the 
disposition to make lean beef only, although in very great quantities ; 
and if they could not perfectly give- to the Lincolns their own early 
maturity, they materially quickened the process of fattening. 

This cut is a fair specimen of the modern Lincoln, with a cross of 
the Durham, and ready for the market. It was sketched by Mr. 
Harvey, as it stood in Smithfield. 

An improved Lincolnshire beast is therefore now a very valuable 
animal ; and if a finer grain could be given to the meat, his great 
quantity of muscle, compared with that of fat, would be no disadvan- 
tage. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE ALDERNEYS. 




v 

B 



THE ALOEKNEY BULL. 



The Normandy cattle are from the French continent, and are 
larger and have a superior tendency to fatten ; others are from the 
islands of the French coast ; but all o( them, whether from the con- 
tinent or the islands, pass under the common name of Alderneys. 

They are found mainly in gentlemen's parks and pleasure-grounds, 
and they maintain their occupancy there partly on account of the 
richness of their milk, ami the great quantity of butter which it 
yields, but more from the diminutive size of the animals. Their real 



THE ALDEKNEYS. 



139 



ugliness is passed over on these accounts ; and it is thought fash- 
ionable that the view from the breakfast or drawing-room of the 
house should present an Alderney cow or two grazing at a little 
distance. 







THE ALDERNEY COW. 



They are light red, yellow, dun or fawn-colored ; short, wild- 
horned, deer-necked, thin, and small boned ; irregularly, but often 
very awkwardly shaped. 

Mr. Parkinson, who seems to have a determined prejudice against 
them, says that " their size is small, and they are of as bad a form 
as can possibly be described ; the bellies of many of them are four- 
fifths of their weight ; the neck is very thin and hollow ; the shoul- 
der stands up, and is the highest part ; they are hollow and narrow 
behind the shoulders ; the chine is nearly without flesh ; the bucks 
are narrow and sharp at the ends ; the rump is short, and they are 
narrow and light in the brisket." This is about as bad a form as can 
possibly be described, and the picture is very little exaggerated, 
when the animal is analyzed point by point ; yet all these defects 
are so put together, as to make a not unpleasing whole. 

The Alderney, considering its voracious appetite — for it devours 
almost as much as a short-horn — yields very little milk. That milk, 



140 



CATTLE. 



however, is of an extraordinarily excellent quality, and gives more but- 
ter per quart than can be obtained from the milk of any other cow. 
Some writers on agricultural subjects have, however, denied this. 
The milk of the Alderney cow fits her for the situation in which she 
is usually placet!, and where the excellence of the article is regarded, 
and not the expense : but it is not rich enough, yielding the small 
quantity that she does, to pay for what she costs. On the South 
coast of England, there is great facility in obtaining the Alderney 
cattle, and they are great favorites there. 




ALDERNEY COW, 



One excellence it must be acknowledged that the Alderneys pos- 
sess ; when they are dried, they fatten with a rapidity that would be 
scarcely thought possible from their gaunt appearance, and their 
want of almost every grazing point, while living. 

Some have assigned to the Norman or Alderney cattle a share in 
the improvement of the old short-horns ; but the fact does not rest 
on any good authority. 



EAST INDIAN CATTLE. 



Several varieties of these have been imported, and attempts made 
to naturalize them, but with varied success, and among them the 
Nagore cattle. 



THE SHORT HORNS. 



141 



They are used in India by the higher orders, to draw their state 
carriages, and are much valued for their size, speed, and endurance, 
and sell at very high prices. 




THE NAGORE BULL. 

They will travel, with a rider on their back, fifteen or sixteen 
hours in the day, at the rate of six miles an hour. Their action 
is particularly fine— nothing like the English cattle, with the side- 
way, circular action of their hind legs. — The Nagore cattle bring 
their hind legs under them in as straight a line as the horse. They 
are very active, and can clear a five-barred gate with the greatest 
ease. 



THE 



ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE 



AND 



DISEASES OF CATTLE 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE STRUCTURE AND DISEASES OF THE HEAD OF THE OX. 



Having described the various breeds of cattle, and touched in- 
cidentally on some of the principles of breeding, we are now prepared 
to enter into the consideration of the structure of the ox. This will 
afford us opportunity of more satisfactorily elucidating the peculiari- 
ties, or points, on the development of which the excellence of the 
beast, for certain purposes, is supposed to depend ; and will also 
enable us to understand the nature and proper treatment of the 
diseases to which neat cattle are subject. The first is an important 
but disputed topic : it has been founded too much on mere assertion ; 
it has varied with the caprice of individuals, or the fashion of the 
day ; and it has rarely been referred to principle, and to the neces- 
sary effect of certain conformations on the capacity of the animal for 
certain purposes : the latter, more important still, has been alto- 
gether neglected, for until lately there did not exist, in the English 
language, and scarcely in any other, a scientific and satisfactory ac- 
count of the nature and causes and cure of the maladies of neat cat- 
tle ; but these animals were, with few exceptions, abandoned to the 
tender mercies of those whose practice may be characterized as a 
compound of ignorance and brutality. 

For the purpose of future reference, we first introduce the skele- 
ton of the ox. 



SKELETON OF THE OX. 



143 




SKELETON OF THE OX. 



The upper jaw-bone. 

The nasal bone, or bone of the nose. 

The lachrymal bone. 

The malar, or cheek bone. 

The frontal bone, or bone of the fore- 
head. 

The horns, being processes or continu- 
ations of the frontal. 

The temporal bone. 

The parietal bone low in the temporal 
fossa. 

The occipital bone, deeply depressed 
below the crest or ridge of the head. 

The lower jaw. 

The grinders. 

The nippers, found on the lower jaw 
alone. 

The ligament of the neck, and its at- 
tachments. 

The atlas. 

The dentata. 

The orbit of the eye. 

The vertebrae, or bones of the neck. 

The bones of the back. 

The bones of the loins. 

The sacrum. 

The bones of the tail. 

w, The haunch and pelvis. 



x, The eight true ribs. 

y, The false ribs, with their cartilages. 

z, The sternum. 

1, The scapula, or shoulder-blade. 

2, The humerus, or lower bone of tb« 

shoulder. 

3, The radius, or principal bone of ti 

arm. 

4, The ulna, its upper part forming tb 

elbow. 

5, The small bones of the knee. 

v6, The large metacarpal or shank-bone 

7, The smaller or splint bone. 

8, The sessamoid bones. 

9, The bifurcation at the pasterns, and 

the two larger pasterns to each foot. 

10, The two smaller pasterns to each foot. 

11, The two coffin-bones to each foot. 

12, The navicular-bones. 

13, The thigh-bone. 

14, The patella, or bone of the knee. 

15, The tibia, or proper leg-bone. 

16, The point of the hock. 

17, 17, The small bones of the hock. 

18, 18, The metatarsals, or larger bonea 

of the hind leg. 

19, 19, The pasterns and feet. 



144 



CATTLE. 




SECTION OF THE HEAD OF THE OX. 



a, The horn, showing it to be a process 
of the frontal bone, and the manner 
in which it is hollowed. 

6, The frontal bone. 

c, The frontal sinus, extending from the 

nasal bone almost to the tip of the 
horn and the great foramen. 

d, The condyloid process of the occipital 

bone, and the foramen through 
which the spinal chord passes from 
the skull. 

e, The cavity of the skull. 

f, The petrous portion of the temporal 

bone appearing in the cavity of the 
skull. 

g, The passage to the internal part of 

the ear. 

h, The foramen, lacerum or irregular 
foramen, through which several of 
the nerves escape from the space, 
and some of the blood-vessels enter. 

t, The foramen ovale — ovale foramen. 



Wj 



The anterior condyloid foramen. 

The posterior do. 

The basilar process of the occipital. 

The sphenoid bone. 

The crista galli of the ethmoid bone. 

The pterigoid bone. 

The perpendicular portion of the pala- 
tine bone. 

The nasal bone. 

The ethmoid bone. 

The superior turbinated bone. 

The inferior turbinated bone. 

The lower cell of the ethmoid, so large 
in the ox, as to be termed by some 
the middle turbinated bone. 

The maxillary sinus. 

The cells of the palatine bone. 

The superior maxillary bone — its pala- 
tine process. 

The grinders. 

The anterior maxillary bone, destitute 
of incisor teeth. 



THI-: FRONTAL SINEUS. 



143 



The head of the ox may be divided into two parts — the skull and 
the face. The cut, page 144, represents a section of both. 

The cranium or skull, that portion of the head which contains and 
protects the brain, is composed of eight bones : two frontals e, p. 143, 
and b, p. 144 ; one parietal, h, p. 143 ; two temporals, g, p. 143, and/, 
p. 144 ; one occipital, i, p. 143 ; and d and I, p. 144 ; one ethmoid, n, 
and r, p. 144; and one sphenoid, to, p. 144. 

The frontal bones extend from the nose to the superior ridge of the 
skull ; presenting a flattened but irregular surface, and entirely bare 
of muscular or fleshy covering. 




R.s.&ilbert 
head of a short-horn bull. 



THE FRONTAL BONES. 



Nature has given to most cattle a formidable weapon of offence, 
the horn. To be effective, it must be securely based ; and it could 
only be so, or it could best be so, by this expanse of frontal bone. 
From this bone the horn springs, and it is in fact a continuation of 
the frontal, (see a, p. 144.) The. forehead of the bull is considerably 
shorter and broader than that of the cow or the ox in every breed. 
This shortness and breadth of forehead is not only characteristic of 
difference of sex, but it is regarded, and properly, as an essential 
1 



146 CATTLE. 

point in a bull. A deficiency here argues deficiency of constitutional 
power, and materially diminishes his value as a stock-getter ; a cow 
with a large head and broad forehead, in other respects loses the 
most valuable points of the feminine character — she is neither a good 
milker, nor a good mother, nor does she often fatten kindly ; there is 
coarseness in her whole form, and her very flesh is coarse, when 
slaughtered. There is no point more generally assented to by 
breeders that this — that a fine small head, tapering towards the 
muzzle, usually indicates a good milker and a good feeder, and a good 
temper too. 

The cut of the head of the bull, page 145, except somewhat too 
narrow a muzzle, is a good illustration of the masculine character of 
a superior bull of the improved short-horn breed. 

In some species of hornless cattle the expanse of this bone not 
being wanted as a base for the horn, is not found ; but the frontal 
bones begin to contract a little above the eyes, and terminate in a 
comparatively narrow ridge at the summit of the head. This narrow- 
ness of the parietal ridge is a characteristic of the purity of the breed 
and its grazing qualities, particularly among the Galloway and Angus 
cattle, showing fineness of form, and smallness of bone everywhere. 

THE FRONTAL SINUSES. 

If this expanse of bone were solid, its weight would be enormous, 
and it would weigh the animal down. To obviate this, it is divided 
into two plates, separated by numerous cells ; these extend through 
the whole of the bone, even through the parietal and occipital bones. 
Hence the frontal sinuses extend from the angle of the eye to the 
foramen through which the brain escapes from the skull, and to the 
very tip of the horn (vide a and c, p. 144.) 

There is a septum, or division, in the centre of the frontal sinuses. 
Commencing about half way up the nose, the septum is wanting at 
the lower part, and the two nostrils are thrown into one ; and the 
frontal sinuses communicating with the nasal, there is one continuous 
cavity from the muzzle to the tip of the bone of the horn, and from 
one nostril to the other. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE FRONTAL SINUSES. 

The whole of this cavity is lined by a prolongation of the mem- 
brane of the nose, and when one part of it is inflamed, the whole is 
apt to be affected. This accounts for the very serious character 
which a discharge from the nostril sometimes assumes in cattle. 
The sooner a gleet from the nose of an ox is examined and properly 
treated the better, for the inflammation is extensive generally. 

After a little cough, with slight nasal discharge, we occasionally 



THE FORAMINA OF THE FOREHEAD. 147 

find the beast rapidly becoming dull and drooping, and carrying his 
head on one side. Either grubs or worms have crept up the nostril, 
and are a source of irritation there ; or inflammation, at first merely of 
the membrane of the nose, and connected with common cold, has 
extended along the cavity, and is more intense in some particular spot 
than in others ; or has gone on to suppuration, and matter is thrown 
out and lodged there, and generally about the root of one of the 
horns. The veterinary surgeon either opens the skull at the root of 
the horn, or, in a more summary and better way, cuts off the horn at 
its root. More than a pint of pus sometimes escapes ; and although 
there may not be throwing out of pus, yet the inflammation will be 
materially relieved by the bleeding that follows such an operation. 
The opening into the sinus which is thus made should be speedily 
closed, or the air will render the inflammation worse than before. 

On account of the vast extent of cavity from the communication 
between all the partitions of the sinus, the ox occasionally suffers 
much from the larva of a species of fly that creeps up the nose and 
lodges in some part ; the annoyance is sometimes so great as to be 
scarcely distinguished from phrenitis. This does not often happen ; 
for the sinuses are more the accidental than the natural and regular 
habitation of these insects. 

THE USE OF THESE SINUSES. 

These plates of the skull are separated from each other at least an 
inch at all places, and in some parts more than double that distance 
(see cut, p. 144). The skull is the covering of the brain. The wea- 
pons of offence spring from the skull, and are often used with terrible 
effect about the skull. The polled cattle use their heads as weapons 
of offence, and butt each other with tremendous force. If the frontal 
bone were so solid as almost to resist the very possibility of fracture, 
yet if the brain lay immediately underneath it, the concussion from 
the shock of their rude encounters would be dangerous, and often 
fatal. Therefore the bones are divided into two plates, and separated 
as widely as possible from each other, where, as at the parietal crest, 
and the root of the horn, the shock is most likely to fall. There are 
also inserted between the plates numerous little perpendicular walls, 
or rather scales of bone, (see c, p. 144,) of wafer-like thinness, which 
give sufficient support to the outer plate in all ordinary cases, and by 
their thinness and elasticity afford a yielding resistance capable of 
neutralizing almost any force. If the external plate is fractured, the 
inner one is seldom injured. 

THE FORAMINA OF THE FOREHEAD. 

There are marks of contrivance in the structure of the head of the 
ox, which should not be passed over. The large expanse of the 



148 CATTLE. 

forehead ox requires much nervous influence, and a great supply 
of blood ; and, therefore, there are two foramina, or holes one for the 
escape of the nerve, and the other of the artery. Each of these, 
however, must be of considerable bulk, and they have to run over 
a surface, where they are exposed to much danger. There is pro- 
vision made for this — a curious groove in which they run for some 
distance above and below, securely defended by the ridge of bone on 
either side, until they give off various branches, and are so diminished 
in bulk, that they are comparatively out of the reach of injury. If 
the nerve or the artery were injured, the nervous influence and the 
blood would be supplied by other ramifications. 

THE ARCH UNDER WHICH THE TEMPORAL MUSCLE PLAYS. 

A strong process of the frontal bone goes to contribute to the 
formation of the zygomatic arch, under which the head of the lower 
jaw moves and is defended ; and the act of mastication is thus 
securely performed. In the ox the teeth are never weapons of 
offence ; he may gore and trample upon his enemy, but he does not 
bite him : and his food is leisurely gathered in the first imperfect mas- 
tication, and still more lazily and sleepily ground down in rumination ; 
this arch therefore need not be, and is not, capacious and strong. It is, 
from situation and the general shape of the head, exempt from vio- 
lence and injury; and therefore the arch not only does not project 
for the purpose of strength, and to give room for a mass of muscle 
that is not wanted, and the frontal bone docs not enter into its com- 
position at all. (See g and e, p. 143.) 

THE HORNS. 

The frontals in the ox in their prolongation make the horns. The 
foetus of three months has no horn ; during the fourth month it may 
be detected by a little irregularity of the frontal bone, and by the 
seventh month is evident to the eye elevating the skin. It now 
gradually forces its way through the cutis or skin, which it has 
accomplished at the tii. j of birth ; and, continuing to grow, detaches 
the cuticle or scarf skin from the cutis, and carries it with it ; and 
this gradually hardening over it, forms the rudiment of the future 
covering of the bone of the horn. Beneath this cuticle the horn soon 
begins to form ; but it continues covered until the animal is twelve 
or fifteen months old, giving a skinny roughness, which then peals off, 
showing the shining and perfect horn. The horn then is composed 
of an elongation of the frontal bone, covered by a hard coating, origi- 
nally of a gelatinous nature. Its base is a continuation of the frontal 
bone, and is hollow or divided into numerous cells, (a and c, p. 144,) 
all communicating with each other, and lined by a continuation of the 
membrane of the nose. 



FRACTURE OF THE HORN. 149 

The bone of the horn is exceedingly vascular ; the most vascular 
in the whole frame, for it has not only vessels for its own nourish- 
ment, but for that of its covering ; it is much roughened on its sur- 
face, and is perforated by innumerable vessels. It is on this account 
that when it is broken the bleeding is so great — it would scarcely be 
more profuse from the amputation of a limb. 

FRACTURE OF THE HORN. 

Young bullocks will often too early use their horns. In this way 
the horn occasionally gets fractured. If the bone of the horn is 
broken, but the external covering is not displaced, nothing is neces- 
sary but to fix splents to the part, and bind well up, so that the 
fractured edges shall be kept securely in place, and in a few weeks 
all will be well. 

Sometimes the horny covering is torn off. If the bone is not frac- 
tured, it will be best to leave it to nature. There will be a great deal 
of haemorrhage at first ; but this ceasing, leaves the bone covered by 
coagulated blood This hardens and forms a temporary case for the 
bone. In the meantime another process commences at the base of 
the bone. A dense flexible substance is found there, and this begins 
rapidly to thicken and harden, and to assume the character of good 
horn ; it then runs up the bone, displaces the crust of coagulated 
blood as it grows, and covers the bone completely and, much resem- 
bles and is nearly as strong as the original horn. 

At other times, after the horny covering has been torn off, the 
bone will be found to be fractured, but the parts not perfectly sepa- 
rated. They must be brought in exact apposition, bound carefully up, 
and confined with splents, or strong bandages. Union between the 
edges of the bone will speedily take place, new horn grow over, and 
there will be scarcely a mark of the accident. 

At other times, not only is the horny covering torn off, but the 
bone is also perfectly separated. The bone will never be reproduced ; 
nature will often attempt it, and a rude mass will be formed, half 
bony and half cartilaginous. To prevent this, the horn must be 
sawed off level below the fracture, and the nearer the head the better, 
because it will be the sooner covered by a prolongation of the cuticle. 
The hot iron must be frequently passed over the level surface, after 
which this reproduction will seldom be attempted ; or, if it is, may 
be easily destroyed by the cautery. As soon as the bone has been 
sawed off level, and the bleeding stopped, and the cautery applied to 
the exposed surface, the part must be bound up as quickly as possible 
with one tar-cloth above another, so as completely to exclude the air : 
for the air being now admitted unrestrained to the frontal sinuses, so 
irritable, it may produce dangerous inflammation. Cases are frequent 
in which inflammation of the brain or lock-jaw have followed a broken 



150 CATTLE. 

horn, and from this cause — the exposure of the lining membrane of 
the cells of the head to the unaccustomed stimulus of the air. 

COMPOSITION AND GROWTH OF THE HORNY COVERING. 

The horn is exceedingly thin at its base, and appears as a con- 
tinuation of the cuticle ; dissection cannot trace any separation be- 
tween them ; but maceration has proved that the cuticle and the 
covering of the bone of the horn are two distinct substances. In the 
ox, from a prolongation of the cuticle proceeds the covering of the 
bone of the horn, or at least the basis of it. The rings at the base 
of the horn, and which gradually recede from the base, prove this : 
but the horn thickens as it grows out, and this thickening, and the 
greater portion of the horn, are derived from the vascular substance 
that surrounds the bone, and which is fed by the innumerable ves- 
sels, that are interposed between it and the horn. 

RINGS OF THE HORN. 

These rings have been considered as a criterion by which to de- 
termine the age of the ox, At three years old, the first distinct one 
is usually observed : at four years old two are seen ; and so on, one 
being added on each succeeding year. Hence the rule, that if two 
be added to the number of rings, the age of the animal would be 
given. 

These rings, however, are perfectly distinct in the cow only ; in 
the ox they do not appear until he is five years old, and are often 
confused : in the bull they are either not seen until five, or cannot 
be traced at all. They are not always distinct in the cow ; the two 
or three first may be, but then come mere irregularities of surface, 
that can scarcely be said to be rings, and which it is impossible to 
count. If a heifer goes to bull when she is about two years old, 
there is an immediate change in the horn, and the first ring appears ; 
so that a real three-year-old would carry the mark of a four-year- 
old. After the beast is six or seven years old, these rings are so 
irregular that the age indicated by the two horns is not always the 
same. A difference of one year is seen, and in some instances the 
horns do not agree by two years at least. As a process of nature, 
it is far too irregular for any certain dependence. 

THE DEGREE OF FEVER ESTIMATED BY THE HORN. 

The farrier and the cow leech, when examining a sick beast, feel 
the root of the horn and the tip of the ear. There is much good 
sense about this. If the temperature is natural in both, there is no 
great degree of fever ; but if the ears are deathy cold, it shows that 
the blood is no longer circulating through the small vessels, but con- 
gesting round some important organ, the seat of inflammation — and 



OCCASIONAL HORNS ON THE GALLOWAYS. 151 

nothing can be more dangerous. He also gains from the horn an 
indication quite as important. The horn at the base is very thin ; as 
much so as the cuticle or scarf-skin, and covers one of the most vas- 
cular bones in the whole body. Nowhere else can the practitioner 
get so near to the circulating fluid, or to so great a quantity of it. 
He, therefore, puts his hand on the root of the horn, to see the pre- 
cise temperature of the blood, and thus to judge of the degree of 
general fever or constitutional disturbance. 

THE HORNS THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTER OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS. 

We have classed the different breeds of cattle according to the 
length of horn, and we cannot have a better guide. In the crosses 
between them, the horns follow a determined course ; as long as the 
breed remains pure, cattle may be increased or diminished in size, 
be changed in the proportions of various parts for certain purposes — 
be made true grazing or dairy cattle, but the horn remains the 
same ; it is the distinguishing badge of the breed. 

In the present race of short-horns there is a great variety in the 
form of the horn. Some think this of little or no consequence ; we are 
not of that number. It sometimes tells tales of crosses long gone by or 
forgotten, and totally unsuspected ; and it is possible that they indi- 
cate certain peculiarities, excellences or defects, reaching perhaps to 
no great extent, yet worthy of notice. A treatise on the horns of 
cattle might be made a very interesting work ; but it would require 
experience that rarely falls to one man's lot, and an unusual freedom 
from hypothesis and prejudice. 

THE INFLUENCE OF SEX ON THE HORNS. 

Of the influence of sex on the horn, we have proof every day ; but 
it is exerted in our domestic cattle in a manner different from all 
other ruminants. It is the head of the male, when in his wild state, 
that is usually horned ; the castrated male loses his altogether, or 
wears diminutive ones ; while the female is generally hornless. On 
the contrary, the tame bull is distinguished by a short, straight, in- 
significant and ugly horn ; while a weaker, but longer, handsomer, 
and beautifully curved horn adorns the head of the ox ; and a still 
more delicately-shaped one the cow. 

OCCASIONAL HORNS ON THE GALLOWAYS. 

The most singular horn is that which now and then hangs from 
the brow of some polled cattle. It is no prolongation of the frontal 
bone ; is not attached to that or any bone of the head ; but grows 
from the skin, and hangs down on the side of the face. 



152 CATTLE. 

THE FRONTALS IN POLLED CATTLE. 

The frontal bones hold the same situation in polled cattle. They 
reach from the nasal bones to the parietal ridge ; but they materi- 
ally diminish in breadth towards the poll. The breeders of polled 
cattle consider this a proof of pureness of blood, and of the pos- 
session of a disposition to fatten. 

Large cavities between the plates of the frontal bone are found in 
the polled as well as in the horned breed ; but they are not so 
deep, nor do they extend beyond the frontals, varying much in the 
different breeds of cattle. 

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE HORNED AND HORNLESS BREEDS. 

There was a time when this question was much discussed. It 
was taken for granted, by those who had more theory than practi- 
cal experience, that the horns were not only useless but a serious 
evil ; and a scientific surgeon has scrupled not to say, that, " on a 
very moderate calculation, the loss in farming stock, and also in 
animal food, is very considerable from the production of horns and 
their appendages." The fact, however, has never been thoroughly 
determined, whether the Galloway, or the Kyloe, is the most profita- 
ble grazing stock ; each has its advocates, and each is excellent. 
But it has been determined, that during the reign of the Bakewel- 
lian stock, no cattle displayed such a propensity to fatten as the 
long-horns ; and as the chest became deeper and more circular, and 
the aptitude to fatten developed itself, the horn lengthened. It has 
also been determined, that for grazing and milking properties, and 
particularly for early maturity, no cattle can vie with the short-horns. 

The existence of horns, or the length of the horn, have in them- 
selves no connection at all with grazing, or with milking : a beast 
does not fatten the quicker because there are no horns to consume a 
portion of the nutriment, nor is he longer in getting into condition 
because lie has them. They are ornamental ; they cost the breeder 
nothing ; they are useful for various purposes ; and they bring so 
much clear gain to the manufacturer. The hornless cattle may, 
however, be packed closer than the others, and, destitute of the 
natural weapon of offence, are less quarrelsome and more docile. 

THE OTHER BONES OF THE SKULL. 

We shall be very brief in our account of the other bones of the 
skull, as little of a practical nature is connected with them. 

The Parietal bone. — In the ox (h, p. 143,) not the smallest portion 
of it appears on the superior part of the head ; but it is found at 
the back of it, usurping the place of the occipital bone, giving 
attachment to the muscles of the neck, and particularly to its strong 
supporting ligament (m, p. 143). It, however, spreads along the 
side below the horn, giving it some support ; and it unites there 



PECULIARITIES OF THE BRAIN OF THE OX. 153 

with the temporal bone, and contributes to the strength of the 
part. 

The Temporal bones. — These bones ((/, p. 143 and 144,) have no 
stress upon them in cattle ; are small, deep in the temporal fossa, and 
destitute of the squamous suture. The most important difference is 
the form of the superficial cavity which receives the head of the low- 
er jaw, and which is peculiarly adapted to the lateral grinding mo- 
tion of rumination. 

The Occipital bone. — This bone is, in the ox, deprived of almost all 
importance. There is no crest, no tuberosity, and very small con- 
dyles, for attachment to the neck ; and even its base, although a lit- 
tle widened, is much curtailed in length. It, however, still contains 
the great foramen through which the spinal marrow escapes from 
the skull (?', p. 142, and d and I, p. 144). There are two foramina 
the passage of nerves. 

The Sphenoid and Ethmoid bones are of little importance here. 

THE BRAIN. 

All these bones unite to form the cranial cavity in which the 
brain is contained. It is surrounded by membranes. Comparing the 
bulk of the two animals, the brain of the ox is not more than one- 
half the size of that of the horse. The medullary substance which 
forms the roots of the nerves is as large, and some of the nerves, and 
particularly the olfactory nerve, or that of smell, are as much de- 
veloped ; the deficiency is in the cineritious part — that part connect- 
ed with the intellectual principle. The medullary substance is that 
by which impressions made by surrounding objects are conveyed to 
the brain, and received there, and the volitions of the mind transmitted, 
and motion given to every part : the cineritious is that portion where 
the impressions are received, and registered, and pondered upon, and 
made the means of intellectual improvement, and from which the 
mandates of the will proceed. The senses of the ox are as acute as 
those of the horse ; he sees as clearly, hears as quickly, and has the 
sense of smelling in greater perfection ; but he has not half the sa- 
gacity. He partly has it not, because he does not receive the educa- 
tion of the horse ; but more, because nature, by diminishing the bulk 
of the intellectual portion of the brain, has deprived him of the power 
of much improvement. Yet the difference is in degree, and not in 
kind. He possesses sufficient intellect to qualify him for the situa- 
tion in which nature has placed him, 

PECULIARITIES OF THE BRAIN OF THE OX. 

Of the peculiarities of the brain of the ox we will say little, for 
they are unconnected with that which is the object of our treatise, 
the useful knowledge of the animal. The posterior part of tho 

7* 



154 CATTLE. 

brain, under the cerebellum, or little brain, and at the commence- 
ment of the spinal chord, is a condensation of medullary matter, 
(the medulla oblongata,) whence proceed the nerves that are con- 
nected with the involuntary motions of life, and by which the heart 
beats, and the lungs play, and the intestines propel the food. In 
cattle this part is, in proportion to the size of the animal, of great 
bulk, for they have to contribute to the food of man ; and the heart 
must strongly beat, and the stomach and the intestines must be 
constantly and actively at work, to furnish the requisite quantity of 
milk when living, and abundance of flesh and fat when slaughtered. 
The ox, however, is, in a manner, exempt from labor. Even in 
the districts in which he is employed on the farm or the road, his 
work is slow. At the termination of this medulla oblongata com- 
mences the spinal chord, whence proceed all the nerves connected 
with the voluntary motions of the body. Now, although the medulla 
oblongata is proportionally larger in the ox than in the horse, for 
the reason we have just stated, the spinal chord is considerably 
smaller, because so much muscular power is not needed. 

THE EAR. 

Tn horned cattle, the ears, often comparatively small, and, from their 
situation, limited in their motions, and seldom erect, are little regard- 
ed. The bull has usually the shorter horn and the larger ear ; in some 
breeds, particularly the Kyloe, and the Kyloe bull more especially, it 
has much to do with the beauty of the head. 

In polled cattle, the ear, of a fair size but not too large, freely 
movable, and well fringed, corresponds with the beautifully curled 
forehead, and is a point of some importance. A large ear is general- 
ly objected to, as indicating coarseness of form, and possibly of flesh. 
The only advantage of a large ear would be, that it might be better 
able to discharge one of its functions, to guard the eyes from injury. 
A person cannot long observe an ox, without admiring the adroit 
use he makes of his ears for this purpose : but even the weight of 
the ear would probably interfere with the requisite rapidity of motion. 
The ear of the ox is furnished with two additional muscles, for this 
purpose. 

DISEASES OF THE EAR. 

The ears of cattle are comparatively exempt from disease. The 
passage into the ear is tortuous and guarded with hair. The rrreg- 
ularities of the conch are large and abrupt. The inconveniences 
which arise from the introduction of insects into the ear seldom oc- 
cur. To contusions these organs are much exposed, producing swell- 
ing abscess, and deafness. Fomentations will afford the principal 
means of relief or cure, with occasional washing out of the ear with 



DISEASES OF THE EAR. 155 

warm water, or soap and water, and the application of a weak solu- 
tion of Goulard, while much inflammation remains, and of a still 
weaker solution of alum, when the inflammation has subsided. 

Simple inflammation of the ear is a rare disease in cattle. It is 
recognized by the animal carrying his head a little on one side ; this 
is plainly referable to the ear from the heat and tenderness of its 
base both within and without, and a kind of immobility of the ear, 
resulting from the pain which the animal suffers in moving it. Bleed- 
ing from the neck vein, a dose of physic, and fomentation of the 
part, will usually give relief ; and afterwards a lotion composed of a 
drachm of the extract of lead and the same of laudanum added to 
four ounces of water : a little of this may be poured into the ear, 
and the ear gently squeezed so that the lotion shall find its way to 
every part of it. 

Sometimes the beast is much annoyed by an itching of the ear. 
A dry scurfiness spreads over a greater or less part of the skin of 
the inside of the ear. A healing ointment will afford the most ready 
cure. A little must be gently but well rubbed into the inside of the 
ear, until the scurfy skin is softened, and be repeated daily. The 
ointment is thus composed : — melt together four pounds of lard, and 
one of common resin ; set them by to cool, and when they begin to 
thicken, stir in one pound of calamine powder, rubbed down to a 
state of the greatest possible fineness. In a very few instances a 
collection of fluid will appear between the cartilage and the inner 
skin of the ear. The tumor must be opened from end to end. 
Still more rarely fungous granulations spring up from the base of 
the ear. They must be cut down with a knife. Nitrate of silver 
must then be applied over the exposed surface, and an alum wash, 
not too strong, afterwards used. 

Homoeopathic Treatment. — If there be a foreign body in the ear, it 
should be removed, and arnica water be injected with a small syringe. 
If insects are the cause, a little oil is to be poured into the ear, If 
the inflammation, from being neglected, has passed into suppuration, 
pus is the best topical application : elaborated by the vital force in 
the wound, it serves chiefly to disintegrate the particles which have 
been contused or otherwise injured, to effect the expulsion of foreign 
bodies, such as splinters, &c, and to dispose the edges of the wound 
to unite by means of fleshy granulations. It is a great mistake then 
to remove it ; it diminishes of itself as the granulations acquire suf- 
ficient consistence to form the tissue of a cicatrix. To fulfill its des- 
tination, it must be of good quality. Where its quality or characters 
are not such as they should be, there only art should interfere, as 
well to facilitate the cure of the wound itself as to secure and pre- 
serve the adjoining parts. The means to Avhich we are to have 
recourse are : arnica, internally and externally, in wounds, &c, of 
every kind ; mercurius vivus and asafcetida, in ulcers which secrete 



156 CATTLE. 

a liquid and fetid pus ; arsenicum, in such as have hard and everted 
edges, with pain, inflammation, and pus of bad odor; chamomilld, 
sepia, and arsenicum, when granulations grow up too luxuriant ; 
silicea, when the pus is thick and of bad color ; acidum phosphoricum, 
when, after a wound, the skin contracts adhesion to the bone. 

When a real abscess is formed, arsenicum is the remedy to be 
employed. However, pulsatilla is very useful in deep-seated ab- 
scesses. When the swelling has been caused by insects, the ear 
should be well washed, and arnica water injected into it. Petroleum 
is by some considered the best remedy in such cases. Some doses 
of sulphur must be taken internally. 



The orbit of the eye is of a quadrilateral shape in the ox, (k, p. 143,) 
and very strongly formed above, to defend it from the violence to 
which, from its situation, it is too much exposed, and below, in order 
to protect the lachrymal sac, and the commencement of the canal 
through which the superfluous moisture flows from the eye to the 
nose. The orbit, and particularly the upper part, the superciliary 
ridge, is very subject to fracture. The parts must be placed in their 
natural situation ; must be confined there ; and inflammation prevent- 
ed by bleeding, physicking, &c. 

The ox is often wounded in the eye, either by the horn of one of 
his fellows or the prong of the brutal attendant. Here must be no 
probing, but fomentations, bleeding, and physic. 

It is too much owing to the thoughtless or brutal conduct of 
those who have the management of cattle, that the ox, oftener than 
any other domestic animal, is subject to bony tumors about the 
eyes, or on the edge of the orbit. 

These tumors appear generally on the external part of the orbit ; 
they increase with greater or less rapidity ; they take a direction 
which may or may not interfere with- vision ; occasionally they bend 
towards the eye, and press upon it, and are sources of torture and 
blindness. If the tumor is on the upper part of the orbit, and is 
attached by a kind of pedicle, it may be sawed off, and the root 
touched with the cautery ; in other situations we shall generally 
be confined to the use of external stimulants. The best is the 
cautery. We shall not, perhaps, dare to apply it directly to 
the part, but there is a method by which we may obtain the 
advantage of a very high degree of temperature without destroy- 
ing the skin. An iron is to be prepared, somewhat hollowed, 
and rather larger than accurately to contain the tumor in its hollow. 
A piece of bacon-rind, with a little of the fat attached to it, is then 
to be cut to the shape of the tumor, and so as to cover it ; and be- 
ing placed over it, the iron, heated nearly red hot, is to be applied 
upon it, and firmly held there for the space of two or three minutes, 



THE EYELIDS AXD THEIR DISEASES. 157 

and afterwards more lightly applied until the rind is dried or burned. 
The object of this is to bring a degree of heat, far above that of 
boiling water, but not so great as of red hot iron, to bear upon the 
part. The fat about the rind is heated to that degree which will 
probably be sufficient to rouse the absorbents, and induce them to 
take up the bone, without destroying the life of the part ; for we 
shall see presently that it is a tumor of a peculiar character. This 
may be repeated two or three times, with intervals of two days. 
Should the tumor not diminish, nothing more can be done ; for these 
bony growths in cattle, arising from local injury, have very little life in 
them, and soon degenerate into a state of caries, or decay of the bone. 

Sometimes these tumors spring from the back of the orbit, pro- 
duced by the injury or perforation of the bone. No cure can be ef- 
fected ; if the eye should become painful, and intensely inflamed and 
begin to protrude, there is but one course, to destroy the animal. 

External bony tumors frequently ulcerate, and the bone becomes 
carious or decays. No possible good can be done here, and human- 
ity and interest require us to put a speedy termination to the animal. 

The eyes are placed quite on the sides of the face, for the ox, in 
a state of nature, being exposed to the attacks of ferocious animals, 
needs an extended field of vision to perceive danger in every quarter. 
He is oftener the pursued than the pursuer, and requires a lateral, 
instead of a somewhat forward direction of the eyes. The eyes are 
prominent, to increase the field of vision, and are made so by the mass 
of fat accumulated at the back of them. A prominent eye is a good 
point in a beast ; it shows the magnitude of this mass of fat, and 
therefore the probability of fat being accumulated elsewhere. This 
prominence, however, should not be accompanied by a ferocious or 
unquiet look ; neither the grazing nor milking beast can have too 
placid a countenance, or be too quiet and docile. 

THE EYELIDS AND THEIR DISEASES. 

The eye is supported and covered by the lids, which were designed 
to close at the approach of danger, and so afford protection to the 
eye ; to supply it with the moisture necessary to preserve its trans- 
parency ; to shield it from the light when diseased ; and to close 
over it, and permit the repose which nature requires. At the 
edge of the lids is a cartilage, to preserve their form, and to enable 
them to close accurately ; and along these edges are numerous little 
openings, which pour out an unctuous fluid that defends them from 
the acrimony of the tears. 

Cattle are subject to a pustular eruption on the edges of the eyelids, 
accompanied sometimes by great soreness, and considerable ulcera- 
tion. It bids defiance to every application, except the mild nitrated 
ointment of mercury, and occasionally it does not yield even to that ; 
yet on the approach of winter, it frequently disappears spontaneous- 



158 CATTLE. 

ly. It indicates a foul habit of body, and is often connected with 
mange ; and unless proper means are taken, it will assuredly return 
in the following spring. Purges of sulphur will be found useful ; 
but a course of alterative medicine will be most serviceable, which 
should consist of one part of ^Ethiop's mineral, two of nitre, and 
four of sulphur ; and be given half an ounce to an ounce every night, 
according to age and size. 

Warts on the eyelids are best removed by the scissors — the root 
being afterwards touched with the nitrate of silver. 

The ox has a contrivance for cleansing the eye from annoying sub- 
stances. A haw, or flat piece of cartilage, of a semicircular form, is 
placed within the corner of the eye. When its use is required, the 
eye is drawn back by the retractor muscle, and the mass of fat at 
the inner side of the eye is forced forward, and drives the haw be- 
fore it over the eye. When the retractor ceases to act, the fatty 
substance returns to its place, and draws back the haw within the 
corner of the eye. 

This part of the eye is disposed to disease. The little portion of 
fleshy substance towards the inner edge of the cartilage, and the 
caruncle, or small fleshy body, placed at the corner of the eye to 
give a proper direction to the tears, take on inflammation from sym- 
pathy with the eye generally, or from injury, dust or gravel ; they 
swell prodigiously, and the haw is protruded over the eye, and can- 
not return. Ulceration appears, and a fungous growth springs up. 
Every means should be adopted to save the haAV, for the removal of 
it will torment the animal as long as he lives. 

If the disease is connected with inflammation of the eye generally, 
all will subside with that inflammation, and this may be hastened 
by the application of a Goulard wash, or diluted tincture of opium. 
If it is a disease of the part itself, the zinc lotion must be used (two 
grains of white vitriol dissolved in an ounce of water, and the vitriol 
gradually increased to four grains ; the application of it confined as 
much as possible to the part, and the liquid not being suffered to get 
to the sound part of the eye.) A perseverance in the use of the zinc 
wash will often do wonders. When it loses its power, a lotion of 
corrosive sublimate may be adopted, first of half a grain to an ounce 
of water, and gradually increased to two grains. 

If it becomes necessary to extirpate the part, the beast must be 
cast ; keep open the eye with the fingers ; a crooked needle armed 
with strong silk, must be passed through the cartilage, by means of 
which the part may be drawn out as far as possible ; and then, with 
a pair of crooked scissors, the haw may be neatly dissected out. If 
the ulceration extend to any of the parts behind, or to the neigh- 
boring tissues, they also must be removed. Considerable bleeding 
will probably follow the operation, and some inflammation of the 
neighboring parts ; but they must be subdued by proper means. 



OPHTHALMIA. 159 



If fungus sprout, it must be touched with caustic ; there is little 
danger attending the operation. 

The eyelids are more subject to disease in the ox than in any oth- 
er domestic animal. If any foreign body gets into the eye, and re- 
mains long there, the eyelids partake of the irritation ; become hot 
and tender, and much thickened, and will continue thickened some- 
times after the inflammation of the eye has subsided. Fomentations 
will be proper here. Occasionally there is cedematous swelling of 
the eyelid, especially where the pasture is damp and marshy. 
These enlargements are too little thought of, and left to nature to re- 
lieve ; but they indicate a degree of general debility, and a disposi- 
tion in the eyes to disease. Many old cattle have eyelids either dis- 
tended with fluid infiltrated into the cellular texture, or from which 
a portion of the fluid had been removed by absorption, but a deposit 
remained, indicated by the impression of the finger being left upon 
the lid, and are more or less out of condition, or will not fatten 
kindly, or have lately had inflammation of the eyes, or will be attacked 
by it soon afterwards. 

A curious appearance — not disease — has been observed in the eye- 
lids of fat bullocks. A certain portion of gas has been infiltrated into 
the cellular tissue. If this is a dissight, scarification may be made 
on the lid, and the gas gradually pressed out. 

The eye of the ox generally is large and flattish ; the transparent 
cornea is quite convex. The pupil is of a transverse oblong form ; 
and the iris dark, but varying with the color of the animal. 

It is on account of the cornea of the ox being so convex, and the 
lens also more than usually convex, that many cattle appear to be 
short-sighted, at least while they are young, when they will approach 
near to a stranger, before they appear to have made a satisfactory 
examination of him. 

OPHTHALMIA. 

Ophthalmia is frequent in the ox. It has a periodical character, 
and will disappear and return until it has its natural termination — 
blindness. The cases of simple ophthalmia, however, proceeding 
from the introduction of foreign bodies into the eyes, blows, or being 
the accompaniment of other diseases, and then yielding to medical 
treatment, are numerous in the ox, and, therefore, as it is not always 
possible in the early stage to distinguish the one from the other, the 
disease may be attacked with more confidence. 

The means of cure are bleeding and physic, as the constitutional 
treatment ; and fomentations, cold lotions — opium in tincture — sat- 
urnine lotions — zinc lotions, as local applications ; the opium during 
the acute stage, the lead as soon as the inflammation begins to sub- 
side, and the zinc as a tonic, when the inflammation is nearly sub- 
dued. 



160 CATTLE. 

The periodical nature of the disease being once apparent, send the 
animal to the butcher, or hasten to prepare it for sale ; ophthalmia is 
certainly hereditary in cattle. 

To combat general inflammation of the eye, bleeding, physicking, 
and fomentations are the principal weapons. The blood should be 
taken from the jugular, for that is supplied by veins coming from 
the inflamed parts. If the bleeding is ever local, the lid should be 
turned down, and the lining membrane lightly scarified. A few drops 
of blood thus obtained will often do a great deal of good. Fomen- 
tations having been continued for a day or two, one of the two fol- 
lowing lotions should be used, a few drops of it being introduced 
into the eye two or three times every day : 

Sedative Eye Lotion. — Take, dried leaves of foxglove, powdered, 
one and a half ounce : infuse them into a pint of Cape or dry raisin 
wine, for a fortnight, and keep the infusion for use. 

There cannot be a better sedative in the early stage of inflamma- 
tion of the eyes. 

In many cases this alone will effect the temporary or perfect re- 
moval of the inflammation ; but should the eye not improve, or be- 
come insensible to the tincture, try this : 

Sedative Eye Lotion. — Take, extract of goulard, two drachms ; 
spirituous tincture of digitalis (made in the same manner as the vinous 
in the last recipe), two drachms ; tincture of opium, two drachms ; 
water, a pint : this should also be introduced into the eye. Two or 
three drops at a time will suffice. 

The inflammation being subdued by the one or the other of these 
applications, or even bidding defiance to them, and assuming a chron- 
ic form, a lotion of a different character must be had recourse to. 

Strengthening Lotion for the Eye. — Take, white vitriol, one scru- 
ple ; spirit of wine, a drachm ; water, a pint : mix them together, 
and use the lotion in the same manner as the others. 

When the inflammation runs high, the transparent part of the 
eye is apt to ulcerate, and a fungous substance sprouts, and some- 
times protrudes through the lids. This should be very lightly 
touched with a solution of nitrate of silver, or, if it is very promi- 
nent, it should be cut off, and the base of it touched with the 
caustic. 

A seton in the dewlap will always be beneficial in inflammation of 
the eye, and it should either be made of the black hellebore root, or 
a chord well soaked in turpentine. 

Of one circumstance the breeder of cattle should be aware — that 
blindness is an hereditary disease, and that the progeny of a bull 
that has any defect of sight is very apt to become blind. 

If the case is neglected, inflammation of the eye will sometimes 
run on to cancer, and not only the eye, but the soft parts around it, 
and even the bones, will be affected. 



OTHER DISEASES OF THE EYE. 161 

When this termination threatens, the globe of the eye will usually 
turn to a bottle-green color, then ulceration will appear about the 
centre of it, and the eye will become of three or four times its 
natural size, or it will gradually diminish and sink into the orbit. 

The fluid discharged from it will be so acrid that it will excoriate 
the parts over which it runs, and the lids will become swollen and 
ulcerated. 

The most humane method to be adopted with regard to the ani- 
mal, is to remove the eye. If the owner does not think proper to 
adopt this, let him try to make the beast as comfortable as he can. 
The part should be kept clean, and when there appears to be any 
additional inflammation, or swelling, or pain, the eye should be well 
fomented with a decoction of poppy-heads. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The cure is easily effected, when the 
case is taken in time ; commence with a few doses of aconitum, 
which is to be employed at first from hour to hour ; then at longer 
intervals. Resort afterwards to arnica. If it be too late, conium 
must be given, which is also indicated when aconitum and arnica 
have removed the inflammatory symptoms, but there is an exudation 
between the laminae of the cornea. Cannabis, belladonna, or euphra- 
sia, in two ounces of distilled water, form an excellent topical appli- 
cation ; but they should also be used internally. If the ophthalmia 
has been occasioned by a foreign body in the eye, it calls for a dif- 
ferent treatment. Extract the foreign body with a bit of moistened 
linen ; conium then removes the symptoms, and if there have been 
any injury, arnica should be prescribed, both externally and inter- 
nally. Ophthalmia caused by cold soon yields to aconitum, bryonia, 
dulcamara, and cuphrasia. 

When the disease proceeds from an internal cause and is peri- 
odical, it is hereditary, or depends on the deposition on the eye of 
a morbific principle difficult to be determined. The chief means 
to be employed are sulphur, euphrasia. 2iulsatilla, cannabis, conium, 
and causticum. Belladona might also be tried. Calcarea carbonica 
is useful in the case of turbid vision with a bluish tint of the cornea 
— the lids not being affected. 

OTHER DISEASES OF THE EYE. 

There is a singular disease of the eye, not properly ophthalmia, 
sometimes epizootic among cattle, that sadly frightens the owner 
when it first appears. Young cattle pasturing on wet and woody 
ground are suddenly seized with swellings of the tongue and throat, 
and eruptions about the membrane of the mouth, and the eyes be- 
come intensely inflamed, and superficial ulcers appear on the cornea. 
This is only one of nature's methods, singular indeed, of getting rid 
of something that offended the constitution ; and the way is to let 
her nearly alone. The skillful practitioner foments with warm water, 



162 CATTLE. 

or, if the eyes are closed, applies an evaporating lotion of cold water, 
with a little spirit, and possibly gives gentle physic ; and he soon 
has the satisfaction to see the inflammation disappearing, and the 
ulcers gradually healing, which he hastens by a very weak zinc wash. 

The ox is subject to Cataract, but it is not often seen, because 
periodical ophthalmia is not frequent in him ; as soon as its existence 
is ascertained, the animal should be prepared for slaughter. 

Gutta serena, or palsy of the optic nerve — blindness in one or 
both eyes, yet the perfect transparency of the eye preserved — is a 
rare disease among cattle ; it is no sooner recognized than the beast 
is destroyed. 

Cancer of the ete, or a perfect change of the mechanism of the 
eye into a fleshy, half-decomposed substance, that ulcerates and wastes 
away, or from which fungous growths spring that can never be 
checked, is a disease of occasional occurrence. The remedy would 
be extirpation of the eye, if it were deemed worth while to attempt it. 

There is a very curious disease of the eye. The common symp- 
toms of ophthalmia appear, as injection of the conjunctiva, dimness of 
the cornea, weeping, and swelling of the lids ; the inflammation 
increases ; and, on close examination, a small white worm, about the 
size of a hair, and an inch in length, is found in the aqueous humor, 
that fluid which is immediately behind the cornea. It is evident that 
the only way to get rid of, or destroy this worm, is to puncture the 
cornea, and let it out ; and this has been resorted to. In some cases, 
however, not many days pass before another worm makes its appear- 
ance, and the operation is to be performed a second time, and the ox 
eventually loses that eye. Three or four days before the appearance 
of the worms, one or two minute bodies, of a reddish-white color, are 
seen at the bottom of the anterior chamber of the eye. The disease 
appears about June, and is not seen after December. 

fracture of the skull. 

One class of the diseases of the head to which cattle are exposed 
will fall under the title of compression of, or pressure upon, the brain. 
Although it is a curious fact, that portions of the external or cineritious 
part of the brain may be cut away without the animal being conscious 
of it, yet the slightest pressure cannot be made upon the brain with- 
out impairment of consciousness, or loss of the power of voluntary 
motion. 

The very construction of the skull of the ox, which gives a degree 
of security from ordinary danger, deprives us of all means of relief, 
in case of compression of the brain from fracture, and therefore the 
animal should always be consigned to slaughter. 

HYDATIDS AND TUMORS IN THE BRAIN. 

Cattle are subject to a disease in which the animal goes round and 



"WATER IN THE HEAD. 163 

round. First, some degree of fever comes on — she perhaps scarcely 
eats — rumination is suspended — the muzzle dry — the ears and roots 
of the horns hot — the breathing laborious, and the hair rough. It is 
fever without any evident local determination. Perhaps she is bled 
and physicked ; but on the following day, the thing begins to speak 
for itself ; she turns round and round, and always in the same direc- 
tion : it is pressure upon the brain ; no operation can relieve such an 
animal from the hydatid. But is the pressure of the hydatid the 
only one that can affect the brain, or produce this peculiar motion ? 
Would not effusion of blood, or of any fluid, on some portion of the 
brain, produce the same effect ? There may have been a too great 
determination of blood to the head, and some little vessel may have 
given way. It is worth trying for a day or two at least, and the 
cow will not be much the worse for slaughter in that time. She 
should be bled copiously ; and a stronger dose of physic be given. 
In some instances, perhaps in the majority, the animal will do well. 
A spare diet at the time, and a while afterwards, will be plainly 
indicated. Success will not, however, attend every case. 

It is a disease peculiar to young cattle. It seldom attacks any 
beast after he is a year and a half old. 

Veterinary writers, in those countries where the hydatid in cattle 
is known, very properly remark that it may be discovered in young 
stock, by the softening of the bone at a particular part ; because the 
frontal sinuses are not fully developed in young beasts. The hydatid 
may then be punctuated with an awl, or better with the trephine ; 
but we recommend that young cattle thus affected should be imme- 
diately destroyed. 

WATER IN THE HEAD. 

There is another species of pressure on the brain, to which young 
cattle are subject, and sometimes even in the foetal state — hydroce- 
phalus, or water in the head. The fluid is usually found between 
the membranes, and exists in so great a quantity, and enlarges the 
head to such a degree, that parturition is difficult and dangerous ; 
and it is often necessary to destroy the progeny to save the mother. 

We have seen hydrocephalus appear after birth in very weakly 
calves ; but do not recollect an instance in a healthy one ; and in 
almost every case it has been fatal : therefore such an animal should 
be put to death. 

In the adult animal, the pressure of a fluid on the brain will 
occasionally be a source of general disease, or death : but it will then 
be an accumulation of fluid in the ventricles of the brain, and not 
indicated by any change in the size or form of the skull. The symp- 
toms will very much resemble those of apoplexy, except that they 
are milder, and the malady is slower in progress — and the network 
of minute arteries and veins in the ventricles are usually considerably 
enlarged. 



164 CATTLE. 



APOPLEXY. 



Cattle are very subject to sudden determination of blood to the 
head. They are naturally plethoric ; are continually under the in- 
fluence of a stimulating and forcing system ; and that without exer- 
cise by means of which the injurious effects of that system might in 
a great measure be counteracted. The very object in our manage- 
ment of the ox, is to clothe him with as much flesh and fat as possi- 
ble ; therefore he is subject to all the diseases connected with a 
redundancy of blood, and to apoplexy among the rest. 

There are few premonitory symptons in these cases. Had the 
beast been closely observed, it might have been perceived that he 
was indisposed to move — that the breathing was a little laborious, 
and the eye somewhat protruded. The animal seems to be struck all 
at once — he falls — breathes heavily and stertorously — struggles with 
greater or less violence, and then dies — sometimes in five minutes — 
oftener after a few hours. 

If there is time to do any thing, the beast should be bled, and as 
much blood taken as can be got. A pound and a half of Epsom 
salts should be given, and this followed up with doses of half a 
pound until it operates ; its action should afterwards be maintained 
by six-ounce doses of sulphur every morning. 

The congestion of the brain being removed, and also the conges- 
tion which, to a certain degree, prevails everywhere, the beast should 
be slaughtered ; for he is liable to a return from causes which would 
not, previous to his first attack, have in the slightest degree affected 
him. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — As soon as the precursory symptoms are 
perceived, a few doses of aconitum are given, which has been found 
a sure means of preventing a fatal termination, especially if the beast 
be fed moderately, employed properly, and not worked too severely 
during hot weather. Arnica, belladonna, nux vomica, and laurocerasus 
may also be used in the premonitory symptoms with good effect ; also 
mercurius and opium. 

PHRENITIS. 

Phrensy or sough in cattle is well known to the farmer and prac- 
titioner. There is generally, at first, much oppression and heaviness ; 
the animal can scarcely be induced to move ; the eyes are protruded 
and red ; the respiration hurried ; and delirium, more or less intense, 
rapidly succeeds. The beast rushes at everything in its way ; it is 
in incessant action, galloping about with its tail arched, staggering, 
falling, bellowing ; its skin sticking to its ribs, and the sensibility of 
the spine strangely increased. 

As, however, the previous oppression and stupidity were much 
less, so is the succeeding violence increased ; not even a rabid ox is 



PHRENITIS. 165 



more fearful, and it is somewhat difficult to distinguish between 
these two diseases. In the early stage of phrenitis, although there 
may be lowness or oppression, there is nothing like apoplexy, or want 
of consciousness. There is more method in the madness of the rabid 
than the phrenitic ox. The latter will run at everything which 
presents itself, but it is a sudden impulse ; the former will plot mis- 
chief, and lure his victims within his reach. Much more foam will be 
discharged from the mouth of the rabid than the phrenitic ox. 

The causes are much the same as those of apoplexy, too stimulat- 
ing food, and too much blood ; to which may generally be added 
some immediately exciting cause, as hard and rapid work in sultry 
weather, over-driving, &c. 

As to the treatment of phrenitis there is some difficulty. If the 
beast can be approached during a momentary remission of the symp- 
toms, bleeding should be attempted, and if a vein be opened, it should 
bleed on as long as it will. Physic, if it can, should be given. 
Sometimes the beast has insatiable thirst, and may be cheated with 
water in which Epsom salts have been dissolved. A scruple or half 
a drachm of farina of the Croton nut may be administered, mixed 
with gruel. All other medicines are out of the question. If bleeding 
and physic will not save, nothing will. Use should be made of any 
temporary respite to confine the animal, or to get him into some 
place where he cannot do harm to himself or to any one. 

The phrensy being subdued, the next consideration is, what is to 
be done with the beast. No more dependence can be placed on him 
than on one recovered from apoplexy. Purging should be continued 
to a moderate degree, and fever medicine given to abate circulation ; 
and when the congested blood is well out of the system, and the flesh 
has become healthy, the sooner the animal is disposed of the better. 

The neck vein should be opened, on each side, if possible, and the 
blood should be suffered to flow until the animal drops. It is absurd 
to talk of quantities here ; as much should be taken as can be got, of, 
at least, the blood should flow until the violence of the symptoms is 
quite abated. 

To this a dose of physic should follow. The following may be 
administered : — 

A Strong Physic Drink. — Take Epsom or Glauber's salts, half a 
pound ; the kernel of the Croton nut, ten grains ; take off the shell of 
the Croton nut, and weigh the proper quantity of the kernel. Rub it 
down to a fine powder ; gradually mix it with half a pint of thick 
gruel, and give it, and immediately afterward give the salts, dissolved 
in a pint and a half of thinner gruel. 

If the violence or even the wandering should remain, another 
bleeding should take place six hours afterwards, and this also until 
the pulse falters ; and the purging should be kept up. 

Although it is very difficult to produce a blister on the thick skin 



166 CATTLE. 

of the ox, it should be attempted if the disease does not speedily 
subside. The hair should be closely cut or shaved from the upper 
part of the forehead and the poll, and for six inches on each side 
down the neck, and some of the following ointment well rubbed in : — 

Blister Ointment. — Take, lard, twelve ounces ; resin, four ounces ; 
melt them together, and, when they are getting cold, add oil of tur- 
pentine, four ounces ; and powdered cantharides, five ounces ; stirring 
the whole well together. 

When the blister is beginning to peel off, green elder or marsh- 
mallow ointment will be the best application to supple and heal the 
part. A little of it should be gently smeared over the blistered sur- 
face, morning and night. 

A seton smeared with the above ointment may be inserted on each 
side of the poll, in preference to the application of a blister. 

Although the violence of the disease, and of its remedies, will 
necessarily leave the beast exceedingly reduced, no stimulating 
medicine or food must on any account be administered. Mashes and 
green meat, and these in no great quantities, must suffice for nourish- 
ment, or, if the animal, as is sometimes the case, is unable to eat, a 
few quarts of tolerably thick gruel may be horned down every day ; 
but ale, and gin, and spices, and tonic medicines, must be avoided as 
downright poisons. There is not a more common or a more fatal 
error in cattle management than the eagerness to pour in comfortable, 
one might rather say, poisonous drinks. Even the treacle and the 
sugar in the gruel must be prohibited, from their tendency to become 
acid in the debilitated stomach of the animal recovering from such a 
complaint. 

Every symptom of the disease having vanished, the beast may very 
slowly return to his usual food ; but, when he is turned to pasture, 
it Avill be prudent to give him a very short bite of grass, and little or 
no dry food. Nature is the best restorer of health and strength in 
these cases ; and it is often surprising, not only how rapidly the ox 
will regain all he has lost, if left to nature, and not foolishly forced 
on, but how soon and to what a considerable degree his condition 
will improve beyond the state in which he was before the complaint. 

The ox that has once had inflammation of the brain should ever 
afterwards be watched, and should be bled and physicked whenever 
there is the least appearance of staggers or fever. The safest way will 
be to send him to the butcher as soon as he is in sufficient condition. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Aconitum is the first and chief remedy, 
before the disease is yet fully developed. It is given in frequent 
doses, separated by short intervals. When there is heat in the mouth, 
eyes, horns, and the animal rests its head against the wall or manger ; 
or when, melancholy and almost devoid of consciousness, it allows it 
to hang ; the best medicine is belladonna, to be given in repeated 
doses, especially when the look is frantic, with swelling of the vessels 



TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 167 

of the head and pulsation of those of the neck. Sulphur should be 
given as consecutive treatment. Hyoscyamus is indicated, more 
especially when belladonna does not suffice. If there be suddenly a 
calm, stupor, or somnolence, or if the disease has been occasioned by 
insolation, opium is to be prescribed without delay. Veratrum is 
indicated when the animal throws itself about and places itself against 
the wall. 

Sometimes the disease does not run its full course. There is but 
a slight degree of inflammation, or there may be sudden determination 
or flow of blood to the head, from some occasional cause, and without 
inflammation. This is known by the name of 

STAGGERS J OR, SWIMMING IN THE HEAD. 

The symptoms are heaviness and dullness ; a constant disposition 
to sleep, which is manifested by the beast resting its head upon any 
convenient place ; and he reels or staggers when he attempts to walk. 
If this disease be not checked by bleeding, purging, and proper man- 
agement, it will probably terminate in inflammation of the brain or 
inflammatory fever. 

It mostly attacks those cattle that have been kept in a state of 
poverty and starvation during the winter season, and in the spring 
of the year have been admitted into too fertile a pasture : hence is 
produced a redundancy of blood in the system, which, on the slight- 
est disturbance, or even naturally, gives rise to the disease. 

The cure must be attempted by taking four, five, or six quarts of 
blood from the animal, according to its size and strength ; purging 
drink must then be administered, and continued in half-doses every 
eight hours, until the full purgative effect is produced. If the animal 
be not relieved in the course of two hours from the first bleeding, the 
operation must be repeated to the same extent, unless the beast 
should become faint ; and the bowels must be kept in a loose or 
rather purging state. As soon as the bowels are opened, the fever 
drink should be given, morning, noon, and night, until the patient is 
well. Nothing more than a very little mash should be allowed, and 
all cordials should be avoided ;is absolutely destructive to the beast. 
When the animal appears to be doing well, he must return very 
slowly to his usual food ; a seton should be put in the dewlap, and 
occasional doses of Epsom salts given. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Belladonna is particularly useful at the 
onset of the disease ; two or three doses are to be taken daily, until 
the symptoms have disappeared, after which the doses are to be given 
at longer intervals, and the treatment terminated with sulphur. 

TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 

The nerves proceeding from the spinal chord are of two kinds, 
those by which the power of voluntary motion is conveyed to the 



168 CATTLE. 

limbs, and those by which the impressions of surrounding objects are 
conveyed to the mind. First, of the diseases of the. nerves of motion. 
There is a fluid or influence conveyed from the brain, through the 
medium of the spinal chord, to the various parts of the body, by 
means of which those parts are moved. In health that influence is 
communicated in a uniform succession of undulations, or pulses. In 
disease, it may rush on violently and without interruption ; if that be 
only partial to a single muscle, or one set of muscles, the animal is 
said to be cramped ; if this violent and uninterrupted action extend 
over the frame, he labors under tetanus ; if the stream of influence 
be rapid and strong, but there are suspensions, he has fits ; and if the 
nervous influence be altogether withheld, there is palsy. 

Tetanus is not frequent in cattle, but it is seldom that a beast 
recovers from it. Its approach is rarely observed until the mischief 
is done. The animal is off its food, ceases to ruminate, is disinclined 
to move, and stands with its head protruded, but there is no dryness 
of the muzzle, or heat of the horn, or coldness of the ears. The next 
day the beast is in same state ; has scarcely moved, and is straddling 
behind, can scarcely be induced to alter his position, and, if made to 
turn, turns all together. It is found that the jaw is locked ; a dis- 
covery which might have been made two or three days before, when 
the ox might have been saved. 

Working cattle are most subject to tetanus, because they may be 
pricked in shoeing ; and because, after a hard day's work, covered with 
perspiration, they are sometimes turned out to graze during a cold 
and wet night. Overdriving is a common cause of tetanus. 

The treatment must be the promptest ; bleed until the pulse 
falters, or rather until the patient blows, staggers, and threatens to 
fall. There is nothing so likely to relax spasm of every kind, and 
even this excessive and universal one, as bleeding almost to fainting. 
Twenty, and even twenty-four pounds have been taken, before the 
desired effect was produced, and those cases oftenest do well, when 
the constitution resists the bleeding long, and then gives way. 

One effect, not always lasting enough, follows the bleeding ; the 
spasm is somewhat relaxed, and the jaws can be opened a little. 
Advantage must be immediately taken of this to pour in a dose of 
physic. That which is most active, and lies in the smallest compass, 
is the best ; and half a drachm, or two scruples of farina of the Croton 
nut should be given in gruel, with, if it can be administered, or as 
soon as it can, a pound or a pound and a half of Epsom salts in 
solution. This must be followed up until the bowels are well opened. 
All other means will be thrown away until brisk purging is produced. 
There is sometimes a great difficulty in this. The direction which a 
fluid takes, or the stomach into which it goes, is uncertain. It may 
pass on at once through the third and fourth stomachs, and produce 
its effects on the bowels; or it may accumulate in the paunch, with- 



TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 169 

out any effect. The manner in which it is given may have some 
influence. If there be great hurry to take advantage of the relaxation 
of the spasm, and pour down the whole drink quickly, in one body, 
it is very likely to find its way into the paunch. If the medicine be 
given a little at a time, or suffered to run gently down the throat, it 
will probably flow into the fourth stomach and the intestinal canal. 

The bowels must be opened. After the first dose of Epsom salts 
and Croton farina, half-pound doses of salts should be given every 
six hours until the desired effect is produced ; but after the first day, 
the Epsom salts may be changed with advantage for common salt. 
Injections should be administered every third hour, (four or six 
quarts at least,) and in each half a pound of Epsom salts should be 
dissolved. If four or six doses of medicine have been given, and the 
animal continues constipated, the pulse, ear, and horn should be 
examined as to the degree of fever ; and if any is indicated, and if 
the pulse does not plainly denote debility, a second bleeding must be 
resorted to, and carried on until the circulation is evidently affected. 

If the animal still remains constipated, the physic is accumulated 
in the paunch ; and that stomach is not disposed to act. Strong 
doses of aromatics and tonics must now be added to the physic, to 
rouse the paunch to the expulsion of its contents, and should that 
fail, recourse must be had to the stomach pump. The cesophagus- 
tube must be introduced into the gullet, and carried down into the 
rumen, and warm water must be pumped in until that stomach over- 
flows ; and then the contents will either be vomited, or pass through 
the third into the fourth stomach, and so into the intestines, and the 
purgative effect will follow. This instrument is invaluable ; and 
on the smallest farm, would soon repay the expense. 

Purging being established, an attempt must be made to allay the 
irritability of the nervous 'system by sedatives; and the best drug, 
and the mainly effectual one, is opium. The crude opium dissolved in 
warm water, and suspended by means of dissolved gum or the yolk 
of an ^gg, will be the preferable form in which to give it. The dose 
should be a drachm three times every day, and increased to a drachm 
and a half on the third day, if the effect of the smaller dose be not 
evident. At the same time the action of the bowels must be kept 
up by Epsom salts, common salt, or sulphur, and the proportions of 
the purgative and the sedative must be such that the constitution 
shall be under the influence of both. It may be necessary to suspend 
the sedative for a dose or for a day, when costiveness threatens. The 
animal should be supported by mashes, which it will sometimes eat, 
or at least suck the moisture from ; and as soon as there is any 
remission of the spasm, the beast may be turned in a field near at 
hand during the day, and taken up at. night. 

A seton of black hellebore root in the dewlap may be of service. 
It is introduced into a part not under the influence of the disease, 
8 



170 CATTLE. 

and it often causes a great deal of inflammation and swelling. The 
back and the loins may be covered with sheepskins, frequently changed, 
to excite constant perspiration, and produce relaxation in the part 
principally attacked : but the chief dependence should be on the 
copious bleeding at first ; a recurrence to it if the spasm becomes 
more violent, or fever appears ; and the joint influence of the sedatives 
and purging. 

If the disease terminates successfully, the beast will be sadly out 
of condition, and will not thrive very rapidly, He must be got into 
fair plight, as quickly as prudence will allow ; and then slaughtered ; 
for he will rarely stand work afterwards, or carry much flesh. 

Strong Physic Drink for Locked Jaw. — Take Barbadoes aloes, 
one ounce and a half; the kernel of the Croton nut, powdered, ten 
grains. Dissolve them in as small a quantity as possible of boiling 
water, and give when sufficiently cool. 

Generally the jaw will be now sufficiently relaxed to permit the 
introduction of the thin neck of a claret bottle into the mouth. The 
best method, however, of giving medicine in this case is by the assist- 
ance of Read's patent pump, the pipe of which, let the jaws be 
fixed as firmly as they may, can generally be introduced, close to and 
immediately before the grinders. 

Anodyne Drink for Locked Jaw. — Take camphor, one drachm, rub 
it down in an ounce of spirits of wine ; to this add powdered opium, 
one drachm, and give the mixture in a small quantity of thick gruel. 

This medicine should be administered three or four times every 
day ; care being taken that the bowels are kept open, either by 
means of aloes or Epsom salts. 

The bleeding should be repeated on the second day, if the animal 
be not evidently relieved ; and as much blood should be again taken 
as the patient can bear to lose. 

The stable or cow-house should be warm, and the animal covered 
with two or three thick rugs. If considerable perspiration can be 
excited, the beast is almost sure to experience some relief. 

It will be almost labor in vain to endeavor to stimulate the skin, 
or to raise a blister. Two, three, or four setons in the dewlap have 
been useful ; and benefit has been derived from shaving the back 
along the whole course of the skin, and cauterizing it severely with the 
common firing-iron. If it should be found impracticable to adminis- 
ter either food or medicine by the mouth, they must be given in the 
form of clysters. Double the usual quantity of the medicine must 
be given, on account of the probable loss of a portion of it, and the 
small quantity that the absorbents of the intestines may take up ; but 
too much gruel must not be injected, otherwise it will probably be 
returned. A quart generally will be as much as will be retained, and 
the clyster may be repeated five or six times in the course of the day. 

Should the progress of the disease have been rapid, and the symp- 



EPILEPSY. 171 

toms violent ; or should it be found to be impossible to give medicines 
by the mouth, or cause them to act by injection, the most prudent 
thing will be to have recourse to the butcher. The meat will not be 
in the slightest degree injured, for it is a disease that is rarely 
accompanied by any great degree of fever. There have been cases of 
cure of locked jaw by the use of cold water ; it is to be applied 
in a stream (the douche), with some little fall along the back from 
the head to the tail, and continuously for hours if necessary. Re- 
laxation will occur sooner or later. This may be added to other 
means. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Nux vomica has proved very efficacious. 
It is administered in repeated doses, at first several times a day, then 
every two or three days. If any rigidity remain in the limbs, arseni- 
cum is prescribed, after which it is right almost always to recur to 
nux vomica. In some cases where the animal had not recovered 
appetite, benefit has been obtained from ipecacuanha. Belladonna 
mercurius vivus, and veratrum have also been useful. 

EPILEPSY. 

This is of rare occurrence, but not easy to treat when it appears. 
It attacks animals of all ages, but chiefly those under three years old. 
There are few symptoms of the approach of the fit, except, perhaps, 
a little dullness or heaviness. All at once, the beast staggers — falls ; 
sometimes he utters the most frightful bellowings ; at others he 
make no noise, but every limb is convulsed ; the heaving of the flanks 
is particularly violent, and would scarcely be credited unless seen ; 
the jaws are either firmly clenched, or there is grinding of the teeth, 
and a frothy fluid is plentifully discharged from the mouth, mixed 
with portions of the food, which seem to have been prepared for 
rumination. The faeces and the urine flow involuntarily. 

Sometimes these symptoms do not continue more than a few 
seconds ; at others the fit lasts several minutes, and then the con- 
vulsions become less violent — gradually cease, and the beast gets up, 
looks about, seems unconscious of what has happened — at length 
begins to graze as before. 

This disease is usually to be traced to some mismanagement with 
regard to the food. It oftenest attacks young cattle in high con- 
dition, who have lately been turned on better pasture than usual, or 
who have been exposed to some temporary excitement from over- 
driving, or the heat of the weather. It is a species of vertigo, or 
staggers — a sudden determination of blood to the head ; and if the 
farmer does not take warning, mischief will result. 

A very serious part of this business is, that the habit of fits is soon 
formed. The first is frequently succeeded by a second, and at length 
three or four will o:cur in a day. 



172 CA.TTLE. 

Bleeding, physic, and short feed will be the treatment ; and the 
last the most important. If the beast were designed for market, it 
will be prudent to hasten that time. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Some doses of aconitum are the first 
means to be employed ; after which we should administer stramo- 
nium, and, if the fit return, belladonna. We may also have recourse 
to hyoscyamus, (especially if the fits are accompanied with violent 
movements of the thighs,) also to cocculus and calcarea carbonica. It 
will be useful to try some doses of camphor every week, to prevent 
the return of the fits. If the disease depend on worms, as has been 
sometimes found, china is one of the most useful remedies for it. 



There are many low, woody, marshy situations, in which cattle 
are subject to palsy. It is frequent during a cold, ungenial spring ; 
and sometimes it assumes the character of an epizootic. Old beasts, 
and those that have been worked, are particularly subject to it ; and 
especially when they are turned out during a cold night, after a hard 
day's work. A damp and unwholesome cowhouse, from which the 
litter is rarely removed, but putrid effluvia mingle with the vapor 
that is continually rising, is a fruitful source of palsy, and especially 
if to this be added the influence of scanty and bad food and stagnant 
water. Old cows, whose milk has been dried and who cannot be 
made to carry much flesh, are very subject to this complaint. 

Palsy is usually slow in its progress. There appears to be general 
debility ; perhaps referable to the part about to be attacked more 
than to any other ; and a giving way, or trembling of that part, and 
sometimes, but not always, a coldness of it. The hind limbs are 
most frequently attacked. It is at first feebleness, which increases to 
stiffness, to awkwardness of motion, and at length to total loss of it. 
The fore limbs are sometimes the principal seat of the disease, but 
then the hind limbs always participate in the affection. In no case 
is there any affection of one side and not of the other ; this is a dif- 
ference in palsy in the human being and the brute, for which we can- 
not account. 

Sometimes this complaint is traced to a ridiculous cause. The 
original evil is said to be in the tail ; and it is thought that the mis- 
chief passes along the cow's tail to the back, and that it is on account 
of something wrong in the tail that she loses the use of her legs : 
some cut the cow's tail off; others, less cruel, make an incision into 
the under surface, and allow the wound to bleed freely, and then 
fill it up with a mixture of tar and salt. Is not relief sometimes 
given by these operations on the tail ? — probably. What would 
make a cow get up and use her limbs if the knife, and the rubbing-in 
of tar and salt failed ; the loss of blood would often be beneficial, 
but not more from the tail than from any other part. 



NEUROTOMY. 173 



The most frequent cause of palsy is the turning out of beasts of 
every kind, but particularly cows, too early to grass, after they have 
been housed during the winter and first part of the spring. One- 
fourth of the stock is sometimes completely chilled and palsied be- 
hind iu the course of two or three nights. The general health will 
not be much affected, except that, perhaps, hoose comes on ; but 
the beasts will lay three or four weeks before they recover the use of 
their limbs. 

The treatment of this disease may be summed up in one word — 
comfort. The cattle should, if possible, be immediately removed 
into a warm, but not close, cow-house, and well littered, and a rug 
thrown over them, turned twice in the day, and so laid that the faeces 
and urine will flow from them. 

Physic should be first administered. This species of palsy is 
usually attended by considerable constipation, which must be over- 
come ; but with the physic, a good dose of cordial medicine should 
always be mixed. Give an ounce of powdered ginger, and a half 
pint at least of good sound ale. Except in diseases of a decidedly 
inflammatory nature, or of such a state of nervous irritability as 
tetanus, the physic of cattle should be mixed with aromatics, and 
frequently with ale. It is to the administration of these cordials in 
cases of fever that we object ; no fuel should be then added to fire ; 
but in general cases, with the constitution of the cow mild cordial 
medicine does not disagree. 

In palsy, there is usually an indifference to food. This is reason 
for giving a little cordial with the physic. The beast should be 
coaxed to eat — the food which is in season should be offered to it, 
and frequently changed. Hand-rubbing, and plenty of it, should be 
used two or three times every day about the loins ; a stimulating 
liniment may be applied, consisting of equal parts of spirits of tur- 
pentine, camphorated spirit, and hartshorn. The chief dependence 
is on keeping the bowels open, and the animal comfortable ; and then 
in from ten days to a month he will usually get up again. 

Strychnine would be worth a trial where the purgative comforta- 
ble system fails ; but that succeeds so often, that we should be 
loth to have recourse to anything else in the first instance. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The chief remedies to be used are : 
aconitum, arsenicum, arnica, belladonna, bryonia, crocus calcarea, 
carbonica causticum, dulcamara, rhus toxicodendron, ruta, sulphur, 
ferrum, cinchona, &c. If paralysis result from rheumatism, we 
should employ arnica, ferrum, rhus, rhuta, lycopodium, and sulphur. 
If from debility, cinchona, ferrum, baryta, carbonica, sulphur, and 
calcarea. If from apoplexy, arnica, belladonna, bryonia, mix vo- 
mica, &c. If from injury, arnica, aconitum, dulcamara, &c. 

NEUROTOMY. 

Veterinary surgeons, to relieve the pain which the horse must 



174 CATTLE. 

otherwise endure from several diseases of the foot, cut out a por- 
tion of the nerve of the leg. This cannot interfere with the motion 
of the limb, because there are no muscles beneath the knee for 
the nerve to supply ; but it cuts off the communication of the 
feeling of pain. If a nerve concerned with feeling be divided, the 
impressions, whether of pleasure or of pain, made on it, below the 
division, cannot be conveyed to the brain, and therefore the animal is 
totally unconscious of them. Many a valuable animal is thus re- 
lieved from torture, and perhaps his services are retained for many 
a year, and bulls useless from lameness are made fit for service. 

The working ox is subject to several diseases of the feet, the 
consequences of shoeing and hard labor, and which are painful and 
difficult to treat. From the division of his foot, and the hardness 
and occasional inequality of the ground, and the consequent ine- 
quality of pressure on the two pasterns, he is subject to sprains 
of the fetlock joint, and injuries of the shank-bone. Enlargements 
of the lower head of these bones are frequently found in the ox. 
With these diseases, the animal is capable of little work, and will 
not carry much flesh. There are diseases natural to cattle, which 
are productive of a great deal of pain, and materially lessen the 
profit derived from them. Cows have lost, for a time, full half of 
their milk, on account of the pain of tender or diseased feet. The 
advantage of three and four months' feeding from the same cause 
is often lost. In the London dairies tender feet is often a most seri- 
ous ailment, and compels the milkman to part with some of his best 
cows. 

Why should not neurotomy be resorted to ? There is nothing 
difficult in it to any one acquainted with the anatomy of the part ; 
and its beneficial effect cannot admit of dispute. It is free from any 
objection. 

The operation is thus performed : — The ox is cast and secured, 
the hair being previously cut from the limb to be operated upon. 
The leg is then to be removed from the hobbles, and distended, and 
a tight ligature passed round it beneath the knee, to prevent bleed- 
ing. Then, on the centre of the back of the leg, (the cut, p. 176, 
No. 1, represents the left leg,) but a little inclining towards the in- 
side, and about 2{ inches above the fetlock, the artery will be felt 
for. Lying immediately inside the artery, towards the other leg, is 
the vein, and close to that the nerve ; the nerve will be found about 
one-sixth part of an inch within the artery. The artery is recognized 
by its pulsation — the vein by its yielding to the pressure of the fin- 
ger, and the nerve by its being a hard, unyielding body. The opera- 
tor then makes a cautious incision, an inch and a half in length, over 
the nerve, taking care merely to cut through the integument. The 
cellular substance is dissected through, and the nerve exposed. A 
crooked needle, with silk, is next passed under it, to raise it a little ; 



NEUROTOMY. 175 



it is dissected from the cellular substance beneath, and about three- 
quarters of an inch cut out ; the first incision being made at the 
upper part, in which case the second cut will not be felt. There is 
only one nerve to be cut here, because the operation is to be per- 
formed a little above the branching of the nerve. 

The edges of the wound are now brought together ; a small bit of 
tow or lint is placed over them, and upon that a bandage is drawn 
tolerably tight. The wound should not be examined for the first 
three days, after which dress with healing ointment, or the tincture of 
aloes. In about three weeks it will be quite healed. The relief 
will be immediate, and the milk of the cow will return, or the graz- 
ing beast will begin to fatten in the course of a day or two. 

The cut (No. 1) of the lateral and posterior part of the leg and 
foot of the ox, shows the distribution and relative situation of the 
blood-vessels and nerves of those portions of leg, fetlock, and foot. 
Besides these, there is only one superficial nerve accompanying the 
superficial vein down to the centre of the great metacarpal, or rather, 
in the young animal, the suture or union between the two bones, 
few or none of whose fibres extend below the fetlock, and which 
may be easily got at and divided in disease of that joint. 

The cut (No. 2) shows how few nervous branches extend down 
the front of the lower part of the leg ; and how completely the 
object of neurotomy will be accomplished by the division of the 
nerve at the posterior part of the leg, in the manner recommended. 
The figures illustrate the anatomy of the fore-part of the fetlock and 
pasterns of the ox. The nerves are represented by a plain black 
line, as in No. 1. 

It will be seen from the cut, that there may be doubt as to the 
precise portion of the foot which is diseased, and the branch of the 
nerve which it will be proper to cut. There are the two lateral and 
the median trunks for the operator to choose from ; but he who is 
wise, when operating on a beast of draught or slow action, will operate 
on the ox sufficiently above the fetlock, and rather above than below 
the situation marked 17 in the cut, and before the division of the 
nerve. 



176 



CATTLE. 



No. 1. 




LEG AND FOOT OF THE OX. 



No. 1. 

1. The tendon of the extensor of the 

foot. 

2. Caspular ligaments of the fetlock joint. 

3. Capsular ligaments of the pastern 

joint. 

4. Tendon of the perforans muscle. 

5. Ligamentous portions. 

6. Tendons of the perforans and perfora- 

tes muscles. 

7. Division of the tendon of the carpo- 

phalangeus. 

8. The lateral external artery of the 

canon, or shank. 

9. The mesian and posterior artery of 

the fetlock. 

10. The lateral internal artery. 

11. The posterior branches of the plantar 

arteries. 

12. The lateral external vein of the canon. 

13. The lateral internal vein of the canon. 

14. The lateral vein of the pastern. 

15. A branch which is formed by the 

plantar veins, and the venous res- 
ervoir of the plantar. 

16. The vascular reservoir, covered in 

part by the coronet. 

17. The plantar nerve before its bifurca- 

tion. 

18. Nervous branches, which, after having 

parted from the preceding, take a 
direction, the one backward and 
downward to the lateral and ex- 



ternal part of the fetlock, and the 
other downward to the internal 
part of the same joint. 

19. The mesian division of the same nerve. 

It pursues its course by the artery 
of the same name. 

20. A continuation of the plantar nerve, 

accompanying the internal lateral 
artery. 

21. The sensible lamina3 of the coffin bone, 

corresponding with the horny la- 
mina} of the hoof. 

22. The usual horny excrescence at the 

posterior part of the fetlock. 

No. 2. 

1. The tendons of the extensor of the 

pastern below the bifurcation. 

2. The tendons of the extensor of the foot. 

3. Internal lateral ligaments. 

4. Capsular ligaments of the fetlock joint. 

5. The capsular ligaments of the pastern 

joints. 

6. A portion of integument, which unites 

the two hoofs at their superior and 
internal part. The blood-vessels 
brought principally into view, are, 
the superficial veins of the leg 
above ; the anastomosis of the pro- 
found and superficial veins below, 
between the figures 2, 2; and the su- 
perficial plantar arteries and veins, 
still lower down. 



RABIES. 177 



RABIES. 



There is one more disease of the nervous system, the most fearful 
of the list, viz., Rabies. When a rabid or mad dog is wandering 
about, if his road lies by cattle he will attack the nearest to him, and 
if he meets with much resistance he will bite as many as he can. 

When there is suspicion that a beast has been bitten, the wound 
should be carefully searched for, and being discovered, the hair must 
be cut from the edges of it, and lunar caustic (nitrate of silver), the 
stick being reduced to a point, introduced into it, and brought in 
contact with, and made thoroughly to act upon, every part of it. 
If there be doubt about the caustic coming into contact with every 
part of the wound, it must be enlarged with the knife, so as to give 
free access to it ; and the caustic being freely used upon the whole 
of the wound, the beast is safe. But who, on an animal thickly 
covered with hair, will say that there is no other wound ? The 
slightest scratch, neglected, is as dangerous as a lacerated wound. 

In this state of uncertainty, therefore, the farmer must look out 
for the worst. If the disease appear, it will be about the end of the 
fifth week, although there will be no absolute security in less than 
double the number of months. 

The beast will appear dull, languid, feverish, scarcely grazing, and 
idly ruminating. These may be symptoms of many a different ill- 
ness, and the previous circumstances alone could excite suspicion of 
what is to follow. The eyes become anxious, protude, red — there 
is considerable discharge of saliva, and to this succeeds a thirst that 
can scarcely be quenched. There is no dread of water at any time. 
It cannot be too strongly impressed on the mind, and may preserve 
from danger, anxiety, and fear, him who has to do with domesticated 
animals of any kind — that the constant and characteristic dread of 
water is confined to the human being. The ox may exhibit a mo- 
mentary dislike to fluids, but generally will drink to the last, and the 
desire of water is increased rather than diminished by the disease. 

In the ox, the disease, from some cause unknown, takes on two 
essentially different characters. The symptoms that we have men- 
tioned are succeeded by frequent pitiful lowings, and a contin- 
ual and painful attempt to evacuate the faeces. Staggering and 
weakness of the loins appear on the second or third day, and this is 
soon succeeded by palsy of the hinder extremities. The animal sits 
on its haunches, making ineffectual attempts to rise — looking wo- 
fully around it, and eagerly plunging its muzzle into the water, when 
placed within its reach, but it makes no attempt to do mischief. At 
other times, the early symptoms are succeeded by a dreadful state 
of excitation. The animal is eager to do every kind of mischief; he 
stands across the path, bellowing incessantly, and tearing up the 
ground with his horns. In a few cases, the quiet and melancholy 



178 CATTLE. 

madness suddenly changes into that of a ferocious character. There 
is no cure now ; and the animal should be destroyed. One circum- 
stance also should be remembered. The poison in rabid animals 
seems to be in the saliva ; and the saliva of an ox is as dangerous 
as that of a dog. 

The rabid ox may attempt more mischief with its horns than its 
teeth, but occasionally will bite ; or, if not, yet must not be meddled 
with too much. This dangerous foam is continually running from 
the mouth ; it may fall on a sore place, and it is then as dangerous 
as a bite. 

The knowledge that the virus is confined to the saliva will settle 
another matter. A cow may be observed to be ailing for a day or 
two, but has been milked as usual ; her milk has been mingled with 
the rest, and has been used. She is discovered to be rabid. Can 
the milk of a rabid cow be drunk with impunity ? Yes, for the 
poison is confined to the saliva. Miscreants have sent the flesh of 
rabid cattle to market, and it has been eaten without harm. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — A dose of belladonna is to be adminis- 
tered first ; the bite is to be well washed, and fomented with water, 
to which some drops of extract of belladonna have been added. 
The doses of belladonna are to be repeated, first every day, then at 
longer intervals. When a mad dog has found his way into a herd, 
it is a good precaution to make all the beasts take a dose of bella- 
donna daily, for eight or even twelve days. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ANATOMY, USES, AND DISEASES OF THE 
NOSTRILS AND THE MOUTH. 

The nasal cavity of the ox contains the apparatus for the sense 
of smell, and is also devoted to the purpose of respiration. It is one 
of the passages by which the air is conveyed to and from the lungs ; 
but as the ox partly breathes through the mouth, there are found 
in the cavity of his nose contrivances for great perfection of smelling. 

THE NASAL BONES. 

From the great development of the frontal bones, in order to form 
a secure basis for the horn, all the bones of the face are proportion- 
ately diminished ; and therefore the nasal bones in the ox (6, p. 143, 
q, p. 144,) are small. They are connected with each other, and with 
the frontals (c, p. 143 and b, p. 144), with the lacrymals (c, p. 143), 
with the superior maxillaries [a, p. 144 and x, p. 143,) and with the 
anterior maxillaries (z, p. 144). They are pushed down, and not 
being in a situation of danger, there is not any intricate and mor- 
toised connection with any of the other bones except the frontals. 
They are broad in proportion to their length ; and as, on account of 
the construction of the mouth of the ox, the muzzle was destined 
to be broad, each bone terminates in two points, with a hollow be- 
tween them ; and as the inside points of the two lie in contact with 
each other, the nasal bones may be considered as actually ending in 
three points instead of one, and occupying a considerably-extended 
surface. It is thus wide, for the greater attachment of muscle and 
cartilage ; for the muzzle must be broad and thick and strong, in 
order to compress and hold the grass firmly, until it is partly cut 
and partly torn by the pressure of the incisors of the lower jaw on 
the pad which occupies the place of the teeth in the upper one. 

If the nasal bone be closely examined, it will be found that it does 
not consist, in its under surface, of one continuous arch, but that 
there is a channel hollowed out of it, and running along the crown 
of the arch. It can be seen above (r, p. 144.) This is an addition 
to the upper meatus or passage of the nose above the upper turbi- 



180 CATTLE. 



nated bone, and which has nothing to do with the act of breathing, 
but terminates in a blind pouch, so that the air shall, as it were, 
loiter there, and any odor which it carries, make a stronger impression 
on the membrane of the nose. Therefore, and for other reasons that 
will be stated, the ox has an acute sense of smell. 

THE OTHER BONES OF THE NOSE. 

The superior maxillary bone forms the greater part of the wall 
and floor of the nasal cavity. It contains the upper grinders on 
either side. Its floor does not consist of a single plate of bone, but 
of cells, like those of the frontal parietal and occipital bones. This 
bone is represented at a, p. 143 and x, p. 144. 

The anterior maxillary, (z, p. 144.) containing no incisor teeth, is 
a very small bone. 

The palatine bone (p, p. 144) is large in the ox, and occupies a 
great portion of the palate and the floor of the nose. 

CONTENTS OP THE NASAL CAVITY. 

The nasal cavity contains the septum, a cartilaginous division ex- 
tending from the suture in the roof between the nasals, to a long 
bone in the form of a groove, named the vomer, and placed on the 
floor ; and from the top of the nasals to the eethmoid bone, dividing 
the nose into two equal parts. There is no necessity for this per- 
fect division, and therefore the vomer, when it has reached about 
half way up the cavity, begins to leave, and separates from the floor 
more and more as it approaches the posterior part of the nostrils, 
leaving a free and extensive communication between them. This 
gives room for still more effectual provision for the perfection of 
the sense of smell. 

THE SENSE OF SMELLING. 

The olfactory, or first pair of nerves, connected with the sense 
of smelling, is abundantly large in quadrupeds, for it is connec- 
ted with life itself. The same nerve differs in size in different 
quadrupeds, according to the necessity that each has for an acute 
sense of smell. The brain of the ox is not more than half the 
size of that of the horse, but he has occasion for acuter smell, and 
his olfactory nerve is nearly as large as that of the horse ; and, com- 
paring the bulk of the two brains, it is a great deal larger. This 
nerve comes in contact with a thin plate of bone, the cribriform 
plate (perforated like a cullender,) of the eethmoid bone, which di- 
vides the nasal cavity from that of the skull ; the somewhat thickened 
portion of another bone interposed between these plates is seen at n, 
p. 144. The pulpy matter of the nerve is pressed through the holes 
of this bone, and spread over a portion of the membrane of the 



BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE. 181 

nose. It is the impression which is made by the odor of bodies 
striking on this diffused pulpy matter, that produces the sense of 
smell ; and in proportion to the extent of surface over which the 
nerve is spread, is the acuteness of the smell. 

The ox partly breathing through the mouth, and the air passage 
being widened by the removal of a portion of the septum, provision 
can be made for the more extensive diffusion of the nervous pulp. 
Nearest to the skull, and situated at the upper part of the nasal 
cavity, are the cells of the sethmoid bone, (r, p. 144,) and the supe- 
rior development of them in the ox is evident. The lower cell of the 
zethmoid labyrinth is so much lengthened in the ox, that it is some- 
times described as a third turbinated bone. Tt is represented at u, 
p. 144. Below these are the two turbinated bones, (s and t, p. 144,) 
both of them, and especially the lower one, largely developed. Each 
of these bones is composed of a labyrinth of cells, divided from each 
other by wafer-like plates of bone, perforated like the cribriform plate 
of the sethmoid bone — lined by the Schneiderian membrane, with the 
nervous pulp spread over or identiBed with that membrane — and a 
thousand communications between the membranes in every part, by 
means of the gauze-like perforated structure of the plates. 

This membrane is either covered with an unctuous fluid, or the 
air passages are so complicated that the pure atmospheric air alone 
is suffered to pass ; the slightest odor or solid substance of any kind 
is arrested. This is not only a wise provision for the perfection of 
the sense of smelling — it not only secures the contact of every parti- 
cle with the membrane of the nose, and its temporary lodgment 
there, but it protects the air passages from many a source of annoy- 
ance, danger, and death. 

Nature has provided an acute sense of smell for the ox : it was 
wanted. It was necessary that the animal should detect the peculiar 
scent of every plant, as connected either with nutrition or destruc- 
tion. Instinct perhaps teaches him much, but he is more indebted 
to the lessons of experience. In the spring of the year, when the 
scent of the infant plant is scarcely developed, cattle are often de- 
ceived with regard to the nature of the herbage ; are subject to pe- 
culiar complaints of indigestion ; and are sometimes poisoned. 

BLEEDING FKOM THE NOSE. 

Working oxen, and especially those in tolerably high condition, 
are occasionally subject to bleeding from the nose, and sometimes 
very profuse bleeding. If too hardly and too long worked during 
the heat of a summer's day, nasal haemorrhage may occur ; to blows 
inflicted on the nasals or on the muzzle by a brutal drover or 
ploughman, far oftener than to any other cause, is bleeding due. It 
is not often that any unpleasant consequences ensue. The bleeding 
gradually ceases. 



182 CATTLE. 

LEECHES IN THE NASAL CAVITY. 

Often leeches fasten on the muzzle, and then creep into the nos- 
tril of the ox, when drinking at a stagnant pool. One of these blood- 
suckers having introduced himself into the cavity, will usually shift 
from place to place, biting here and there, and causing a very con- 
siderable haemorrhage. The beast will tell us plainly enough the 
cause of the bleeding, by the uneasiness which he will express, and 
by his continually snorting and tossing his head about. 

On examining the nostril in a good light, the leech may sometimes 
be seen. Cover the end of the finger with a little salt, and introduce 
it sufficiently high to detach the blood-sucker from his hold. At 
other times when a leech is suspected, salt and water may be in- 
jected up the nostril. When he is fully bloated, he will detach him- 
self; and, except he has crept up the superior meatus, through 
which there is no air passage, he will be expelled by the sneezing of 
the ox. Only temporary inconvenience can result, for the bleeding 
will stop, even from so vascular a membrane as that of the nose. 

POLYPUS IN THE NOSE. 

This is a rare disease in the ox. Polypi should.be removed by a 
ligature round the pedicle, and as near to the root as possible, or by 
tortion, and by the former whenever it can be effected. 

CORYZA. 

By this is meant inflammation of, and defluction from, the nasal 
cavity, or the cells with which it is connected ; the same affection on 
the fauces, becomes catarrh. Catarrh is usually connected with 
coryza, and is the natural consequence or progress of it ; but simple 
coryza does occasionally exist in the ox. We are too often frightened 
by a discharge from the nostrils, mucous, purulent, fetid, and exco- 
riating, and unaccompanied by cough. It is seen in crowded and 
over-heated cow-houses ; it arises from imprudent exposure to ex- 
treme cold, and it is frequently produced by the dust and gravel of 
the road. The ox was not designed to be exposed to the last an- 
noyance ; and he has no false nostril to turn off the current of 
minute and irritating particles from the more susceptible parts of 
the nasal cavity. Therefore, oxen driven any considerable distance 
to fair or market, in sultry, dusty weather, usually suffer from coryza. 
Dairymen, whose cows have to travel half a mile or more on a 
dusty road, wonder that, with all their care, their cattle should have 
such frequent discharge from the nose, and that this should some- 
times run on to boose. The cause is plain enough, although little 
suspected. 

There is a periodical coryza in cattle. During the winter season, 
and probably from mismanagement — from undue exposure to cold, 



GLANDERS AND FARCY. 183 



or to the extremes of heat and cold, there is considerable nasal 
gleet, not interfering much with health, but unpleasant to the eye 
and annoying to the animal, and which, in despite of the most care- 
ful treatment, will remain. When, however, the warmth of spring 
returns, it sometimes gradually disappears. This, however, is one 
of the most favorable cases ; for it will occur that, from some im- 
proper management, hoose or cough has gradually become connected 
with the nasal discharge. The farmer has not observed this con- 
nection, nor is he alarmed although the cough should remain when 
the nasal discharge ceases : nay, he cares little about it, although 
the cough should be a frequent and harrassing one, if the beast 
does but carry its usual flesh, and yields its full quantity of milk : 
when, however, the milk fails, and the cow begins to lose condition, 
he, for the first time, looks about him, and then it is too late. 

We are now, however, speaking of coryza — inflammation of, and 
discharge from, the membrane of the nose. It is a matter of the 
utmost importance for the attendant upon cattle, to assure himself 
that it is simple coryza. He should carefully examine whether 
there be any cough, especially whether that cough be painful — any 
increased labor of breathing — any diminution of appetite — suspension 
of rumination — fever ? The pulse, felt at the left side, and the tem- 
perature of the root of the horn, will best ascertain this last particular. 

If there be nothing of these, still we have inflammation, and of a 
character that soon connects itself with some or all of them ; there- 
fore a mash may be given in the evening, and a few doses of cooling 
medicine. 

The best fever medicine for cattle is half a drachm each of pow- 
dered digitalis and emetic tartar, and two drachms each of nitre and 
sulphur, which will constitute the medium fever-powder, to be given 
as occasion may require, and increased or diminished in quantity, 
according to the size and age of the beast, and the intensity of the 
disease. This should be given in the form of drink. 

If it be simple coryza, add half a drachm of sulphate of copper 
(blue vitriol,) finely powdered, to the other ingredients. This drug 
seems to have a peculiar and a very beneficial termination to the 
mucous membrane of the nose and its connecting cavities, and is very 
useful in pure inflammation or ulceration of that membrane, or dis- 
charge from it. A very slight degree of hoose, and particularly of 
painful hoose, is a sufficient indication that the fever-powders alone 
are to be used. 

Coryza may degenerate into catarrh, bronchitis, or inflammation of 
the lungs ; the proper treatment will be indicated when those diseases 
are taken into consideration. 

GLANDERS AND FARCY. 

Of these dreadful diseases we have never met with a case in cattle. 



184 CATTLE. 



It is not a point fairly settled, and deserves peculiar attention from 
the proprietors of cattle. Our* decided opinion is that cattle are 
exempt from glanders and farcy. 



THE BONES OF THE MOUTH. 



The sides and the greater part of the roof of the mouth are formed 
by the superior maxillary, or upper jaw, seen at a, p. 143, and x, p. 
144. This bone is materially diminished in size by the great develop- 
ment of the frontal bones. It articulates with the lachrymal bone at 
c, p. 143, and the malar bone at d. For the attachment of the 
masseter muscle, the surface of the bone is roughened and tuber- 
culated. Immediately above the foremost of the upper grinders in 
the cut of the skeleton, p. 143, is a little black mark, representing the 
foramen, or hole through which the nerves and blood-vessels proceed 
to the lower part of the face. 

The superior maxillary consists of two plates, irregularly separated 
from each other; the outer forms the external, and the other the 
internal wall of the mouth, as seen at x, p. 144 ; extending upward, 
and assuming an arched form, the commencement of which is seen at 
x, it constitutes the greater part of the bony roof of the mouth. The 
inferior cells of the external part contain the back teeth, or grinders ; 
the superior ones are the maxillary sinuses ; and in the ox there is a 
new set of cells, formed by a separation of the plates of the bone, 
between the roof of the mouth and the floor of the nasal cavity. 

The palatine bone, p, p. 144, occupies considerably more of the 
roof of the mouth than it does in the horse. 

The anterior maxillary bone is a very insignificant one ; there are 
no tusks, or incisor teeth. There are likewise considerable apertures, 
one of which is seen between x and z, p. 144, which leave a some- 
what extensive part of the roof of the mouth and floor of the nose 
occupied only by cellular substance and membrane. There is little 
strength required in the part, and therefore there is little provision 
for it. 

At the base or floor of the mouth is the inferior maxillary, or 
lower jaw (j, p. 143.) It partakes of the shortness of the bones of 
the face. It contains the only incisor teeth which cattle have, eight 
in number, and six molar teeth on each side. It goes back straight 
to the angle, where it turns to take an upper direction towards its 
joint with the temporal bone. The consequence of this is, that the 
muscles, both on the inside and the outside, are small and weak. 
Power is not wanted ; for the grinders are little if at all used in the 
first gathering and mastication of the food, and the act of rumination 
is generally very leisurely and lazily performed. 

Below g, p. 143, is seen the process of this bone, round which the 
temporal muscle is wrapped, and by which it is moved ; and a little 
lower is the shallow cavity of the temporal bone, into which the 



THE LIPS. 185 

proper head of this is received, and with which it forms a joint. 
The ridges at either end of this cavity are very low, to allow more 
latitude- of motion, and admit of the grinding action by which rumi- 
nation is principally characterized. The muscle, being inserted so 
near to the joint, acts with great mechanical disadvantage ; but it is 
sufficiently powerful for every purpose that is required. 

THE CHEEKS. 

The outer walls of the mouth are the cheeks and lips. The cheeks 
consist principally of muscle, (the masseter and the buccinator 
muscles.) They are covered externally by the skin, and lined by 
the membrane of the mouth. There is considerable glandular sub- 
stance in their composition, and these glands have distinct openings 
into the mouth, and assist in supplying it with moisture. 

THE LIPS. 

The lips form the anterior opening of the mouth ; they close it, 
and assist in gathering and retaining the food. They consist of mus- 
cular, glandular, and cellular texture ; and of much, in the upper lip 
especially, condensed substance almost resembling cartilage. The 
muscles give them the power of motion, and particularly that of 
forcibly seizing and compressing the food. This is especially neces- 
sary in the ox, because there are no upper front teeth, and for this 
purpose also the cartilaginous matter was added to them, and most 
of all to the upper lip. Simple muscular substance would be too 
yielding to retain the grass, when it is to be forcibly separated from 
the stalk or root. On account of this peculiar function of the upper 
lip of the ox, it is wide and flat, in order that it may be brought 
better into contact with herbage, and gather it in sufficient quantities. 

Being so much employed for this purpose, there is a want of 
feeling about the lips of cattle, very different from acute sensitiveness. 
His muzzle is to be continually in contact with the ground, among 
smooth and rough herbage — things pleasing and annoying ; and 
therefore all acute feeling is withheld from him, and, consequently, 
he is rarely seen using his lips as substitutes for hands, and forming 
his opinion of the objects around him by the indications which they 
afford him. 

The excess of glandular substance in the lips of the ox is easily 
accounted for. They not only afford their share of the natural mois- 
ture of the mouth, but are, from situation, form, and use, exposed to 
various nuisances. Insects continually crawl about the muzzle, and 
dirt and gravel accumulate on it. If the grass is to be firmly held 
between the pad in the upper jaw and the teeth in the lower, and 
the upper lip must materially assist in the firmness of the grip, it 



18C CATTLE. 

must be continually in contact with the ground, and cannot always 
be in the cleanest state. Nature has given the best of defences 
against this. The outer covering of the upper lip is thickly studded 
with glands, and a fluid can be seen pouring out from them. If an 
ox be watched, drops are seen coursing down his muzzle, and falling 
on the ground. The upper lip, in health, is always wet; the insect 
cannot easily fasten, nor dirt accumulate ; or if the one adhere, or the 
other collect, the tongue is protruded, it passes over the moistened 
surface, and all is clear again. 

We notice the secretion from these glands when we form a judg- 
ment of the animal, and the degree of disease. While the muzzle is 
moist, i. e., while the natural secretions are going forward, there is 
no great constitutional disturbance, and consequently no great dan- 
ger ; in proportion as that secretion is lessened, there is general 
sympathy with some local affection ; and when it becomes altogether 
suspended, it is an indication of much universal derangement. There 
is nothing more in this secretion than in any other, but it is easily 
observed, and the changes in it can be accurately marked. 

THE MEMBRANE OF THE MOUTH. 

This is thin and delicate, compared with the external integument. 
Every part of the mouth is lined with it, and it contains numerous 
glands, occasionally rising into little papillae, from which a consider- 
able portion of the usual moisture of the mouth is derived. The 
gums and the bars are covered by this membrane, but they are den- 
ser and less sensible. 

THE BARS. 

These consist of a firm substance, of a cartilaginous nature, adher- 
ing to the bones of the roof of the mouth, by numerous little cords, 
penetrating into these bones. They are hard and adherent, that the 
food may be rolled against the palate, and formed into proper 
masses for swallowing, whether in the first or second mastication. 
The palate is divided into numerous ridges running across the 
mouth, and on the posterior edge of which there is a fringed border, 
consisting of papillae of much consistence and strength, and all 
pointing backward ; so that the food is permitted to travel back- 
ward, in this process of formation into pellets, but cannot again get 
into the fore part of the mouth. 

THE PAD ON THE ANTERIOR MAXILLARY BONE. 

These bars are rather flat, hard, and irregular, and these papillae 
at the edges of the bars are quite strong. The bars thicken towards 
the fore part of the mouth, and there they accumulate into a pad, or 
cushion, which covers the convex extremity of the anterior maxillary 






THE TEETH. 187 



bone. This pad is of a somewhat more fibrous and elastic nature 
than the bars, and stands in the place of upper incisor or cutting 
teeth. The grass is collected and rolled together by means of the 
tongue ; is firmly held between the lower cutting-teeth and the pad, 
the cartilaginous upper lip assisting in this ; and then by a sudden 
nodding motion of the head, in which the pterigoid muscles are the 
chief agents, the little roll of herbage is partly both torn and cut. 

The intention of this singular method of gathering the food, it is 
difficult satisfatorily to explain. It is peculiar to ruminants, who 
have one large stomach, in which the food is kept as a kind of reser- 
voir until it is ready for the action of the other stomachs. While 
kept there it is in a state of maceration, exposed to the united in- 
fluence of moisture and warmth, and the consequence is, that a spe- 
cies of decomposition sometimes commences, and gas is extricated. 
That this should not take place in the natural process of retention 
and maceration, nature possibly established this mechanism for the 
first gathering of the food. It is impossible that half of that which 
is thus procured can be fairly cut through ; part will be torn up by 
the roots ; many a root mingles with the blades of grass ; and these 
have sometimes much earth about them. The beast, however, 
seems not to regard this ; he eats on, dirt and all, until his paunch 
is filled. 

That this earth should be gathered and swallowed, was the mean- 
ing of this mechanism. A portion of absorbent earth is found in 
every soil, sufficient not only to prevent the evil that would result 
from occasional decomposition, by neutralizing the acid principle as 
rapidly as it is evolved, but perhaps, by its presence, preventing 
that decomposition from taking place. Hence the eagerness with 
which stall-fed cattle, who have not the opportunity of plucking up 
the roots of grass, evince for earth. When decomposition commences 
and the acescent principle begins to be developed, the animal feels 
uneasiness on that account, and has recourse to the earth ; and the 
acid uniting itself to the earth, the uneasy feeling is relieved, and a 
purgative neutral salt manufactured in the paunch. 

THE TEETH. 

The mouth contains the principal agents in mastication, the teeth. 
The mouth of the ox when full contains thirty-two teeth ; eight in- 
cisors in the lower jaw, and six molars in each jaw, above and below, 
and on either side. The incisor teeth are admirably adapted to per- 
form their function. If there be no corresponding ones opposed, 
but merely an elastic pad, they must possess an edge of considerable 
sharpness in order to perform this half-cutting, half-tearing process. 
With a blunt edge there could be no cutting at all ; but all the 
grass would be torn up by the roots, the pasture destroyed, and the 
animal choked with earth. The part of the tooth above the gum is 



188 



CATTLE. 



covered with enamel, both to produce and retain this necessary sharp- 
ness. The crown of the tooth, or that part of it which is above the 
gum, presents a surface somewhat convex externally, rising straight 
from the gum ; while inside the mouth, it has a concave face, dimin- 
ishing gradually in thickness as it recedes from the gum, and termi- 
nating in an edge, than which, in the young animal, few scissors are 
sharper. The elastic nature of the pad preserves itself from lacera- 
tion ; but the grass on which the animal is browsing, less elastic, is 
partly cut through. 

The molar teeth are as well adapted for the mingled laceration and 
grinding of the grass. There are two oblique surfaces, those on the 
lower jaw taking a direction upwards, and from without inwards, and 
those in the upper jaw slanting in an opposite direction, while the 
surface of the tooth is sawed into deep grooves. There are three in 
the last molar, the edges of which, from cones of enamel sunk deep 
into the substance of the tooth, are sharp and cannot be meddled 
with without laceration, and these receive corresponding projecting 
portions from the opposite teeth. From the prolonged although 
leisurely action of machines like these, the food is reduced to a state 
of extreme comminution, that every particle of nourishment may be 
extracted from it. The ox, on whose flesh we subsist, must extract 
every particle of matter which the food contains, and therefore not 
a fibre is seen in the faeces. The dung, except from a stall-fed 
beast, is comparatively of little worth. 



THE AGE OF CATTLE AS INDICATED BY THE TEETH. 

When describing the horns of cattle (p. 148,) we spoke of the 




BIRTH. 



SECOND WEEK. 



THE TEETH. 



189 



ususal and incorrect method of estimating their age by the horns. 
Far surer marks are presented in the teeth. 




THIRD WEEK. 

The mouth of the new-born calf presents an uncertain appearance, 
depending on the mother having exceeded or fallen short of the ave- 
rage period of gestation. Sometimes there will be no teeth appearing, 
but generally, either two central incisors will be protruding through 
the gums, or they will have arisen and attained considerable bulk. 

About the middle or close of the second week, a tooth will be 
added on either side, making four incisors. 

At the expiration of the third week, the animal will have six tem- 
porary incisors or front teeth. 




MONTH. 



190 



CATTLE. 



At a month, the full number of the incisors will have appeared. 
These are the temporary or milk teeth. The enamel covers the 
whole crown of the tooth, but not entering into its composition, and 
the edge is exceedingly sharp. The only indication of increasing age 
will be the wearing down of these sharp edges, and the appearance 
of the bony substance of the tooth beneath. The two corner teeth 
will be scarcely up before the centre teeth will be a little worn. At 
two months, the edge of the four central teeth will be evidently 
worn ; yet as the wearing is not across the top of the tooth, but a 
very little out of the line of its inner surface, the edge will remain 
nearly or quite as sharp as before. At three months, the six central 
teeth, and at four months the whole set, will be worn, and the cen- 
tral ones most of all ; but after the second or third month, the edge 
of the tooth will begin to wear down, and there will be more of a 
flat surface, with a broad line in the centre. 

About this time a new change will begin, but very slowly. The 
central teeth will not only be worn down on their edges, but the 
whole of the tooth will diminish, and a kind of absorption will com- 
mence. There will be little, but increasing space between them. 
The face of the tooth will likewise be altered ; the inner edge will be 
worn down more than the outer, and the mark will change from the 
appearance of a broad line to a triangular shape. The commencement 
of this alternation of form and diminution of size may be about the 
fourth month, and our cut gives a representation of the two central 
incisors at eight months'. The central teeth are now not above half 
the size of the next pair, and those are evidently lessened. 




EIGHT MONTHS. ELEVEN MONTHS. 

At eleven months, the process of diminution will have extended 



THE TEETH 



191 



to the four central teeth, in the manner represented in the cut. 
The spaces between them will now be evident enough. 




FIFTEEN MONTHS. 



EIGHTEEN MONTHS. 



The last cut gives the curious and diminutive appearance of all 
the incisors at eighteen months old. It would appear difficult to ob- 
tain sufficient food to support good condition. It is somewhat so, 
and it may be in a great measure owing to these changes in the 
teeth, and the difficulty of grazing, that young beasts are subject to 
so many disorders from seven or eight months and upwards, and 
are so often out of condition. 

At eighteen months old, the corner teeth will not be more than 
half their natural size ; the centre ones yet more diminished ; and the 
spaces between them almost equal to the width of the teeth. The 
faces of the teeth will be lengthened ; the triangular mark will di- 
minish, principally in the central teeth ; while another more or less 
deeply shaded, will begin to appear around the original mark. 

All this while the second set of teeth, the permanent ones, have 
been growing in their sockets, and approaching towards their gums ; 
The process of absorption commences in the Avhole milk tooth, and 
as much in the crown or body of it as at its root. The process of 
diminution now is confined to the central teeth, and they gradually 
waste away until they are no longer than crow-quills. About the 
expiration of the second year, or a little before, the two contral milk 
teeth are pushed out or give way, and the two central permanent 
teeth appear. 

This cut gives the mouth of a two year old beast, the two per- 
manent central incisors are coming up, and the other six milk teeth 
remain. The bone in front of the lower jaw is taken away, in order 



192 



CATTLE. 



that the alveoli, or cells for the teeth, may be exposed. The second 
pair of incisors have almost attained their proper size, but not 
their proper form. The third pair are getting ready, but the jaw 
is not yet sufficiently widened for the development of the fourth 
pair. 




TWO YEARS. 



THREE YEARS. 



The process of absorption will still be suspended with regard to 
the two outside pairs of milk teeth, but will be rapid with regard 
to the second pair, and a little before the commencement of the 
third year they will disappear. This cut represents the three year 
old beast, with four permanent incisors and four milk teeth. 

Now the remaining milk teeth will diminish very fast, but show 
no disposition to give way, and at four years old there will be six 
permanent incisors, and often apparently no milk teeth ; but if the 
mouth is examined, the tooth that should have disappeared, and the 
tooth that is to remain until the next year, are huddled together and 
concealed behind the new permanent tooth. They are often a source 
of annoyance to the animal ; and the tooth whose turn it was to go 
must be drawn. The four year old mouth then, as represented in 
this cut, should contain six permanent incisors and two milk teeth. 

At the commencement of the fifth year, the eight permanent in- 
cisors will be up ; but the corner ones will be small. This cut 
gives a five year old mouth, or perhaps one a month or two after 
five years ; so that the beast cannot be said to be full-mouthed, i. e., 



THE TEETH. 



193 



all the incisors fully up, until it is six years old. It will be seen, 
however, in this mouth of five years, that the two central pairs are 
beginning to be worn down at the edges, and that in a fiat direction, 
or somewhat inclining towards the inside. 




FOUR YEARS. 



FIVE YEARS. 



At six years old, the teeth are all fully grown, but this mark has 
extended over the whole set, and all the teeth are a little flattened 
at the top ; while on the two centre ones there begins to be a dis- 
tinct darker line in the middle, bounded by a line of harder bone. 

From this time the age for a year or two can only be guessed at, 
and a great deal will depend up- 
on the manner in which the ani- 
mal is fed. The beast most out, 
and compelled most to use his 
incisor teeth, will have them 
worn farthest down. As a 
general rule, but admitting of 
many exceptions, at seven years 
old, this line is becoming broad- 
est and more irregular in all of 
the teeth ; and a second and 
broader, and more circular mark 
appears within the centre of the 
former one, the most distinct in 
the central, or two central pairs 
— and which at eight years has 
spread over the six central inci- 
sors. 

9 




SIX YEARS. 



194 



CATTLE. 



At eight years a change takes place which cannot be mistaken. 
The process of absorption has again commenced in the central inci- 
sors ; it is slow in progress, and is never carried to the extent seen 
in the milk teeth, but is sufficiently plain, and the two central teeth 
are evidently smaller than their neighbors. A considerable change 
has also taken place on the surface of the teeth ; the two dark marks 
are rubbed into one in all but the corner teeth. 

At ten, the four central incisors are diminished in size, and the 
mark is becoming smaller and 
fainter. The cut represents the 
mouth at this age. 

At eleven, the six central 
ones are smaller ; and at twelve, 
all of them are very considera- 
bly diminished ; but not to the 
same extent as in the young 
beast. The mark is now nearly 
obliterated, except in the cor- 
ner teeth, and the inside edge 
is worn down to the gum. 

The beast is now getting old ; 
the teeth continue to diminish, 
and the animal, after fourteen 
or sixteen years old, is often 
not able to maintain full condi- 
tion. He must then be partly 
fed, yet there are many instan- 
ces in which favorite bulls last more than twenty years, and cows of 
the same age who pasture with the rest of the dairy, and give a fair 
quantity of milk. Some writers have asserted that a good cow will 
continue good until that age ; but both in quantity and quality of 
milk, as a general rule, a good cow will not continue to breed and 
give milk until twenty years old. 

This method of judging of the age of cattle by the teeth is more 
satisfactory than by the horns, and little imposition can be prac- 
tised, whether the animal be young or old. From six to nine we can 
only guess at the age ; but we can form a shrewd guess, and can 
scarcely be out more than a few months. 

In the horn we are subject to imposition ; we are obliged to ask 
questions as to the first calf; and, when the animal gets old, the 
rings often present a confusion of which the best judges can make 
nothing. 

The. grinders will rarely be examined to ascertain the age of a 
beast. They are too difficult to be got at ; and the same depen- 
dence cannot be placed upon them. The calf is generally born with 
two molar teeth ; sometimes with three in each jaw, above and be- 




TEN YEARS. 



THE TONGUE. 195 



low. The fourth appears about the expiration of the eighth month, 
and the fifth at the end of the year, about which time the first mo- 
lar is shed. The second is displaced at the end of the second year, 
and so with the rest, at intervals of a year ; but the sixth molar, 
which is from the beginning a permanent tooth, does not appear un- 
til the sixth year. 

THE TONGUE. 

The tongue occupies the base of the mouth. It is firmly held by 
muscles principally attached to the os hyoides, a singular bone common 
to it and the larynx. The tongue is composed of the union of these 
muscles, which extend their fibres through every part of it, and with 
which is intermingled a considerable quantity of fatty matter. It is 
covered by the membrane of the mouth, but curiously modified ; 
it resembles more the cuticle or scarf-skin, but the internal layer is 
fibrous and sensitive, and between the two is a soft, reticulated sub- 
stance, which serves as a bed for the papillae, or little eminences 
scattered all over the tongue, some of which, at least, are supposed 
to be the terminations of the gustatory nerve, or that branch of the 
fifth pair of nerves on which the sense of taste depends. The use 
of the tongue, generally, is to dispose of the food between the 
grinders during mastication ; to collect it afterwards, and, by the as- 
sistance of the bars, form it into a pellet for swallowing ; it is also 
the main instrument in drinking. The outer covering of the tongue 
of the ox is hard and rough. The peculiar way in which the food 
is gathered renders this necessary ; it helps to collect the grass to- 
gether and form it into a roll before it is brought between the pad 
of the upper jaw and the incisor teeth of the lower one ; it serves 
to clean the muzzle from annoyances to which it is exposed by means 
of dirt or insects ; and it likewise wipes from the nostril the filth 
that is discharged from it in various diseases of the membrane of the 
nose or the air passages, to which the px is so subject. 

The reader will remark the spur projecting from the centre of the 
body of this bone, fig. 1. In some animals it is from two to three 
inches in extent, and penetrates deeply into the root and body of the 
tongue ; and from its sides, roughened for the purpose, there spring, 
through the whole extent of the bone, powerful muscles (the genio- 
hyo-glossi muscles, belonging to the chin, the hyoid bone, and the 
tongue), whose object is to draw down the tongue within the mouth, 
and limit its action. 

There is nothing about the ox which requires confinement of the 
tongue ; but, on the contrary, he has need of one possessing an ex- 
traordinary freedom of motion, and the os hyoides is small. Its 
spur (I. p. 196) is a mere tubercle. There is no penetration or con- 
finement of the root of the tongue. The muscles springing from it 



196 



CATTLE. 



are diminutive and weak, and have little or no power over the body 
of the tongue. 




HYOID EONE, OR OS HYOIDES. 



1. The spur. 

2. The basis, or greater cornu or horn. 

3. The inferior lateral cornu. 
3 .The middle cornu. 

4. The superior lateral cornu. 

5. The epiglottis. 

U. The arytenoid cartilage. 



7. The thyroid cartilage. 
8 The cricoid cartilage. 
9. Rings of the trachea. 

10. The interposed ligamentous substance 

between the rings. 

11. The Rimaj glottidis, or entrance into 

the windpipe. 



In the hyoid bone of the ox, the muscle (the hyo-ghssus-longus, 
the long muscle belonging to the hyoid bone and the tongue) has 
its origin in an attachment to the corner near the spur ; but there 
are two joints to give greater freedom of motion, and not only so, 
but the bifurcation of the superior lateral cornu, swelled out into a 
head or tubercle, has no unyielding cartilaginous attachment to the 
temporal bone, and is fitted into a curious socket, formed between 
the mastoid process of the temporal bone, and a plate of bone let 
down on purpose, and in which it plays loosely, yet securely. 

GLOSS-ANTHRAX, BLAIN, OK BLACK TONGUE. 

There is a disease of the tongue in cattle, which, from its sudden 
attack, fearful progress, and frequently fatal termination, requires par- 
ticular notice. The animal is dull, refuses food, and rumination 
ceases. A discharge of saliva appears from the mouth ; it is at 
first limpid and inoffensive, but it soon becomes purulent, bloody, and 
exceedingly fetid ; the head and the neck begin to swell ; they be- 
come enormously enlarged ; the respiratory passages are obstructed ; 
the animal breathes with the greatest difficulty, and is, in some 



GLOSS-ANTHRAX, BLAIN, Oil BLACK TONGUE. 197 

cases, literally suffocated. This is the Blain, or Gloss-anthrax — ■ 
inflammation of the tongue, or black tongue. 

On examination, the tongue is apparently enlarged, but is, in fact, 
only elevated from its bed between the maxillary bones ; and the 
cause being examined, large vesicles or bladders, red, livid, or purple, 
are found running along the side and base of the tongue, and particu- 
larly towards its anterior part. These bladders are strangely rapid in 
their growth ; become of a great size size ; quickly break ; and form 
deep ulcerations. Others immediately arise in their immediate neigh- 
borhood, of similar character, but of still larger size. Sometimes the 
animal dies in twenty-four hours from the first attack ; but at other 
times fever rapidly succeeds, of a typhoid or malignant kind. In a few 
cases these bladders have been found on the upper part of the tongue, 
and even nearer to the top of it than to the frsenum. The tongue 
soon becomes really enlarged, and particularly when the lateral or 
inferior parts of it are the seats of disease. General inflammation of 
it speedily follows, and that part of it on which the ulcers first 
appeared, becomes mortified, and may be cut into, or cut away, 
without the animal expressing the least degree of pain. Incisions 
into the tongue are not followed by blood, but they bring to view 
tissues decomposed at some points, and black at others, and bearing 
the marks of incipient gangrene. 

The primary seat of the disease is the membrane of the mouth 
beneath or above the tongue. Dissection has proved the membrane 
at the base of the mouth to be the part primarily concerned. 

Examination shows intense inflammation, or even gangrene of the 
part, and also inflammation and gangrene of the oesophagus, the 
paunch, and the fourth stomach. The food in the paunch has almost 
offensive smell ; that in the manyplus is hard and dry. Inflammation 
reaches to the small intestines, which are highly inflamed, with red 
and black patches in the ccecum, colon, and rectum. We cannot 
speak with confidence as to the cause of this disease : indeed, it is, in 
a great majority of cases, unknown. We have seen it at all seasons, 
and under all circumstances, — in stall-fed cows, whether newly 
bought, or those used to their situation and in pasture. When it 
becomes epidemic — when many cases occur about the same time, 
and over a considerable extent of country, and in town dairies as 
well as country ones, it is usually in the spring or autumn. Most 
epidemics of an inflammatory character occur at those periods, for the 
process of moulting is then going forward, and the animals are, to a 
certain degree, debilitated, and disposed to inflammatory complaints ; 
and these assume a low and typhoid, and then a malignant, form, 
much oftener and much more speedily in cattle than in other domes- 
ticated animals. There appears to be a deficiency of courage and 
nervous energy in cattle, compared with the horse, and a consequent 
inability to contend with disease. This affords a key to the progress 



198 CATTLE. 

and treatment of many of the maladies to which these animals are 
subject. These epidemics, although dependent on, and produced by, 
some atmospheric agency, required a predisposition in the animal to 
be afflicted by the disease. 

While the blain sometimes assumes an epidemic character, there 
can be no doubt of its being contagious, and especially under the 
malignant form. The disease is not communicated by the breath ; 
but there must be actual contact. The beast must eat from the same 
manger, or drink from the same trough, or be in such a situation that 
the saliva, in which the virus seems to reside, shall be received on 
some abraded or mucous surface. The malady is readily communi- 
cated when animals graze in the same pasture. The farmer should 
be aware of this, and should adopt every necessary precaution. This 
is one of the maladies which may be communicated from the brute 
to the human subject. The danger, however, so far as it can be 
ascertained, is trifling, and easily avoided ; and a man may attend on 
a hundred of these animals without injury : he has to take care that 
the saliva or discharge from the mouth does not touch any sore place, or 
lodge upon the lips ; and if he should fear that it may have come 
into contact with any little wound or sore, he has only to apply lunar 
caustic over the part, and there will be an end of the matter. 

The treatment of blain is very simple ; and, if adopted in an 
early period of the disease, effectual in a great majority of cases. 
Blain is, at first, a local malady, and the first and most important 
means to be adopted will be of a local character. It is inflammation 
of the membrane of the mouth, along the side of and under the tongue, 
and characterized by the appearance of vesicles or bladders ; perhaps 
pellucid at first, but becoming red or livid, as the disease advances ; 
These vesicles must be freely lanced from end to end. There will not 
be much immediate discharge ; the bladder was distended by a 
substance imperfectly organized, or of such a glairy or thick nature 
as not readily to escape. If this operation be performed when the 
saliva first begins to run from the mouth, and before there is any 
unpleasant smell or gangrenous appearance, it will usually effect a 
perfect cure. If the mouth be examined four-and-twenty hours after- 
ward, the only vestige of the disease will be an incision, not looking 
very healthy at first, but that will soon become so and heal. 

If the disease has made considerable progress, and the vesicles 
begin to have a livid appearance, or perhaps some of them have 
broken, and the smell is becoming very offensive, the mouth must be 
carefully examined, and any bladders still remaining whole, or new 
ones beginning to rise, must be deeply and effectually lanced, and 
the ulcers washed half-a-dozen times in the day, or oftener, with a 
diluted solution of the chloride of lime (a drachm of the powder to 
a pint of water.) By means of a syringe or piece of sponge, this 
may be brought into contact with every part of the ulcerated surface 



GLOSS-ANTHRAX, OR BLAIN. 199 

In a very short time the unpleasant smell will diminish or cease, 
and the ulcers will begin to assume a more healthy character. 
When all fetor is removed, the mouth should be bathed with a lo- 
tion composed of equal parts of tincture of myrrh and water, or a 
pretty strong solution of alum, and a fourth part of the tincture of 
catechu. 

This treatment will be usually successful if the ulceration has not 
assumed too much of the gangrenous character, and if symptomatic 
or low fever has not appeared in too intense a degree. These are 
very important circumstances, and should not be passed lightly over, 
for several of the most fatal diseases are of comparatively little im- 
portance, and easily got rid of in the early stage, and neglect pro- 
duces all the danger. The blain, although easily cured when at- 
tacked in its early state, becomes uniformly fatal if neglected. 
In these early stages of the blain, the disease should not be always 
so simply treated, and the mere lancing of the vesicles the only means 
adopted ; but it should be the first thing done, and that on which 
there is the greatest dependence, as attacking the fountain-head of 
all the after mischief, and getting rid of the danger of suffocation at 
least. 

The blain, suffered to take its course, speedily becomes connected 
with fever, and that fever is not long in taking on a typhoid form ; 
even then we should certainly extract blood. Four, or five, or six 
quarts should be taken away, according to the size of the beast, and 
the urgency of the case ; or rather ,we would bleed until we begin 
to perceive its effect on the general circulation. 

In addition to this, as constipation usually accompanies the com- 
mencement of fever, and is never absent in cases of blain, we should 
administer a purgative— from a pound to a pound and a half of 
Epsom salts ; and likewise throw up some laxative injections. 

Let Epsom or Glauber salts, or the common culinary salt, be 
dissolved in simple water or thin gruel. They want nothing to in- 
sure or increase their effect. 

The practitioner may not be called in until gangrenous ulcers fill 
the mouth, and the membrane of the mouth, and the tongue itself, 
seem to be sloughing away in pieces ; ulcers, perhaps, have also be- 
gun to appear externally behind or under the jaw ; and, most of all 
to be dreaded, and frequently accompanying the worst stages of 
blain, ulcers begin to break out about the feet, and particularly at 
the junction of the hair and the hoof, and threaten the loss of the 
hoof. 

Chloride of lime must be used from morning to night, until the 
gangrenous character of the ulcers is changed, and then the tinc- 
ture of aloes, or the tincture of myrrh substituted. Ulcers in any 
other part, particularly about the feet, must undergo a similar 
treatment. Chloride of lime, the solution being by degrees strength- 



200 CATTLE. 

ened, will remove the fetor, and usually give the ulcer a healthy 
surface. 

No bleeding will be required here : the stage of acute fever is 
passed. Physic should be given — one dose at least, whatever is 
the state of the bowels, and even although the diarrhoea of typhoid 
fever should be established ; but, at the same time, the system 
must be roused and supported. A double dose of aromatic powder 
should accompany the physic ; and, after that, the gentian, calum- 
bo, and ginger roots should be regularly administered in powder, 
suspended in gruel. Two drachms of gentian and calumbo, and 
one of ginger, will constitute an average dose, and may be repeated 
morning and night. 

The practitioner should pay considerable attention to the food. 
It is not always that the appetite fails in this disease ; nay, may 
remain unimpaired to the last ; but the soreness of the mouth 
has prevented the animal from eating or ruminating. He should 
be fed with gruel — some of it always within his reach, and he will 
sip no inconsiderable quantity of it. More should be poured down, 
or given by the stomach-pump — the latter being the better way of 
administering it. When poured down bodily, it will generally find 
its way into the rumen, and there be retained, and in a manner 
lost ; but when given from the small pipe of the pump, and not too 
strongly forced on, it will trickle down the gullet, and be likely to 
flow on into the fourth, or true digesting stomach, and be converted 
into immediate nutriment. 

This is one of the numerous class of diseases, under which the 
animal either cannot labor a second time, or to which the constitu- 
tion betrays an evident insusceptibility for a considerable period. 
Cattle recovered from the blain have been purposely subjected to 
contagion, without effect. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The first thing to be done is to scrape 
the pustules with a curved knife, an iron spoon, or a wisp of straw, 
after which the part is to be well cleaned by means of a cloth steeped 
in oil. Once the pustules have been removed, the tongue should 
be touched every day with a cloth steeped in water, to which some 
drops of arsenicum have been added. This plan will suffice in 
most cases. If symptoms of the disease still remain, for instance, a 
fetid state of the breath, <fcc, acidum phosphoricum, alternately with 
mercurius solubus, daily. 

THRUSH IN THE MOUTH. 

There is a disease, sometimes epidemic, especially in the spring 
and winter, when the weather is unusually cold and wet, that may 
be mistaken, and has been so, for blain. It consists in the appear- 
ance of pustules, or sometimes vesicles, not merely along the side 
and at the root of the tongue, but all over the mouth, and occa- 



THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 201 

sionally even on the outside of the lips. These pustules break, and 
minute ulcers succeed, which may run a little into each other ; but 
they oftener speedily heal. 

This is very harmless. There is sometimes a slight degree of 
fever, rarely such as interferes with the appetite, but never to indi- 
cate danger. The disease may last ten days, a fortnight, or more ; 
but gradually yields to mild (k»ses of physic ; the beast may thrive 
the better afterwards for having got rid of something that was op- 
pressive to the constitution. 

Homoeopathic treatment, — This requires more especially the em- 
ployment of aconitum, and of mercurius vivus. Acidum nitri also is 
very effectual, especially in diy inflammation. Carbo vegetabilis is 
specific in treating induration succeeding to inflammation : conium, 
bjcopodium and silicca, are also recommended in this case. 

THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 

The food, when first gathered, is rolled hastily into a pellet, and 
swallowed, without being mingled with much of the moisture of the 
mouth ; but the second mastication is another affair — the food is 
not only to be thoroughly broken to pieces and ground down, but 
brought into that softened and pultaceous state, in which it can be 
thoroughly acted upon by the gastric juice, and digestion performed. 
The mouth is furnished with various glands, which secrete a limpid 
fluid of a somewhat saline taste, and called the saliva, by which the 
food is thus softened. These are differently named, according to 
their situation. 

The parotid glaxd, or the gland in the neighborhood of the ear, 
is the largest and most important of them. It occupies the hollow 
which extends from the root of the ear to the angle of the lower jaw. 
It consists of a vast number of little glands connected by cellular 
tissue, each having its minute duct to convey away the fluid that is 
secreted, and these ducts communicating with one another, and join- 
ing together to form one main branch, termed the parotid duct, 
through which the united stream is conveyed into the mouth. 

The following cut will give the reader a sufficient notion of the 
situation and connections of this gland, and also of the bloodvessels 
of the neck, and principal muscles of the upper part of it. 

1. The splenitis (spleen-shaped) muscle, occupying almost the 
whole of the upper and side part of the neck, and extending from 
the parietal ridge, as far down as the fourth .and fifth vertebrae of 
the back. It arises by two tendons, one from the atlas, and the 
other from the mastoid process of the temporal bone : it is attached 
superiorly by tendinous and fleshy fibres to the ligament of the neck, 
and inferiorly by fleshy fibres to the transverse processes of the 
bones of the neck, and the fore part of the spine. There is one 
muscle on each side of the neck. When they act together, they erect 



202 



CATTLE. 



and support the head and neck ; when either acts alone, it inclines 
the head and neck on that side. It is the muscle on which, with 
the trapezius in the next cut, the form of the upper part of the neck 
principally depends. 




2. The inferior oblique (taking an oblique direction). A deeper- 
seated muscle on each side of the neck, from the first to the second 
bones of the neck. 

3. The superior oblique. Likewise a deeper-seated muscle, from 
the first bone of the neck to the portion of the parietal bone which 
forms the poll. Both acting together, they elevate the head ; — either 
acting alone, turns it on that side. When the hand is passed 
down the side of the cervical ligament, even near to the poll, the 
muscles of the neck will be observed to become rapidly thicker. 
The thickness of the neck of the ox lies principally below ; so it is 
in almost all ruminants, and particularly in the deer tribe ; there- 
fore these muscles are large. 

4. A portion of the levator humeri (the elevator of the arm), re- 
versed. It arises by an aponeurotic expansion from the parietal 
ridge, and by a strong tendon, from the mastoid process of the 
temporal bone, and from the four first bones of the neck, and, con- 
necting itself with the ligament of the neck, it goes to the muscles 
of the shoulders and the upper bone of the arm. When the head 
is made a fixed point, one of them, acting alone, draws forward the 
shoulder and arm ; when the shoulder is made the fixed point, it 



THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 203 

turns the head and neck ; or, the shoulder still being the fixed point, 
and both acting, the head is depressed. This muscle is large in the 
ox. It is united with the rhomboideus longus (the long rhomboid- 
shaped muscle), and evidently contributes materially to the forma- 
tion of those sub-cutaneous muscular fibres, which are substituted 
for the proper sub-cutaneous muscle of the neck. Inferiorly it is di- 
vided into three branches — the one, thin and inferior, goes to the 
anterior extremity of the sternum ; the second, at the inferior part of 
the arm, furnishes a tendon, which is inserted with that of the pector- 
alis transversus (the transverse muscle of the chest) into the hu- 
merus ; while the superior division gives a strong tendinous expan- 
sion, which spreads over, and loses itself upon the outer face of the 
humerus. 

5. The sub-scapulo-hyoidus, (belonging to the substance under- 
neath the shoulder, and to the hyoid bone,) from the shoulder-blade 
to the body of the hyoid bone, to draw backward that bone. 

6. The sterno-maxllaris, (belonging to the sternum and the lower 
jaw,) from the cartilage in front of the chest to the angle of the 
lower jaw. It is attached to the lower jaw by means of a bifur- 
cated tendon. The posterior branch is inserted into the masseter 
muscle, on which it acts as a kind of bridle in the usual process of 
mastication, and more particularly as tending to limit the lateral 
and grinding motion of that muscle. The other goes on and attach- 
es itself to the buccinator muscle, immediately to be described. Thus 
they act quite as much as muscles of mastication, as thev are con* 
cerned in the bending of the head, and perhaps more. so. The whole 
muscle may act on the head — the separate portions of it on the 
function of mastication. 

7. The ste,no-hyoidus, from the sternum to the hyoid bone, and to 
the thyroid cartilage of the larynx, in order to draw the bone and 
the cartilage downward and backward. 

8. The massetpr, (masticating muscle) covers the greater part of 
the side of the superior maxillary bone, and is inserted into the rough- 
ened surface of the angle of the lower jaw bone. 

9. The buccinator (the muscle by which the human being blows 
the trumpet) extends from the alveolar borders of the upper and 
under grinders, over the cheeks, and the membrane of the mouth, 
and to the angle of the mouth. It tightens the membrane of the 
mouth, and thus principally assists in the disposal of the food in the 
mouth, and also in retracting the angle of the mouth. 

10. A branch of the os hyoides. 

11. The stylo-maxillaris, from the styloid process of the occipital 
bone to the angle of the lower jaw, to draw it backward, and to open it. 

12. That portion of the stylo-maxillaris, which is called the digas- 
tric, is seen here. 

13. The little flat muscle, the stylo-hyoideus, is here represented ; 



204 CATTLE. 

extending from the styloid process of the occipital, to the angle of 
the corner of the hyoid bone, and its action confined to the retracting 
and elevating of the corner of that bone. 

14. A muscle of the larynx. 

15. The 2)arotid gland, (the gland in the neighborhood of the ear,) 
the greater part of it reversed, to show the parts beneath. 

16. The parotid duct, winding within the angle of the jaw, and 
escaping again at a very little distance, and in company with the 
maxillary vein and artery climbing up the cheek, and perforating the 
buccinator muscle, in order to discharge its contents into the mouth. 
The orifice is generally found about the third or fourth grinder. The 
situation of the duct should be carefully observed, for obstruction 
and fistula of this duct is frequent in the ox, and operations of various 
kirfds may be necessary. 

17. The submaxillary gland (the gland under the jaw). Its com- 
mencement is almost as high as that of the parotid, but behind it ; 
thence it reaches down to the angle of the jaw, and there begins to 
take a direction forward between the branches of the lower jaw, and 
terminates in a duct which opens on either side of the frsenum of the 
tongue. 

18. Lymphatic glands (glands containing lymph) of the neck. 

19. Lymphatic glands found between the branches of the lower 
jaw ; neither belonging to the submaxillary nor sublingual glands, 
but often confounded with them. They become inflamed and enlarged 
in almost every case of catarrh. These glands often enlarge to a 
very considerable degree, suppurate, and troublesome ulcers ensue. 

20. The jugular vein (the vein of the throat), previous to its 
bifurcation, and pointing out the usual situation for bleeding. 

21. The submaxillary vein, returning the blood from the tongue, 
the mouth, and the face generally. It is scarcely lost at all within 
the angle of the lower jaw, but runs along the edge of it, and might 
be opened with advantage in some affections of the face. When it 
emerges from the jaw, and begins to climb up the face, it is found 
between the parotid duct and the submaxillary artery. 

22. The larger branch of the jugular above the bifurcation receiv- 
ing the blood from the upper part of the face and neck, and also 
from the brain. It is so near to the parotid gland, that it would be 
difficult to bleed from it there. The bifurcation is sometimes com- 
pletely covered by the parotid gland. We must therefore be always 
content with bleeding below the division of the jugular in cattle. 

23. The temporal vein (the vein of the temple). 

24? The trunk of the parotidean and auricular veins (the veins of 
the parotid gland and of the ear). 

25, The internal jugular, and particularly its passage below the 
subscapulo-hyoideus muscle. The path of the internal jugular by 
the side of the carotid, under that muscle, is marked by a dotted line. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE PAROTID GLAND 205 ■ 

26. The carotid ratery, where it emerges from below the subsca- 
pulo-hyoideus muscle. Its path under that muscle, by the side of 
the internal jugular, is also marked by a dotted line, showing the 
connection of the two vessels. The figures are placed at the spot 
where it would be most convenient to operate, if circumstances should 
require that a ligature should be passed round the carotid. 

27. The submaxillary artery given off from the main trunk, and 
pursuing its course anteriorly, to bury itself beneath the angle of the 
lower jaw. It is afterwards seen emerging from under that bone in 
company with the sub-maxillary vein, and the parotid duct, and be- 
ing the lowest of the three. 

28. The temporal artery, at which the pulse may often be conve- 
niently examined. 

20. One of the arteries supplying the parotid gland. 

30. The eighth pair of nerves, or the motor organic nerves. 

31. One of the linguales, or nerves by means of which the tongue 
is moved. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE PAROTID GLAND. 

The parotid gland, in cattle, is very subject to inflammation. Con- 
tusions or wounds of the part are frequent causes of inflammation ; 
and this gland, in the ox, sympathizes strongly with catarrhal affec- 
tions of the upper air-passages. A bullock will rarely have hoose, 
accompanied by any degree of fever, without some enlargement and 
tenderness of the parotid. There is scarcely an epidemic among 
cattle, one of the earliest symptoms of which is not swelling of the 
head and neck. These swellings under the ear are guides on which 
we place much, and perhaps the greatest, dependence, in judging of 
the intensity and danger of the disease ; and particularly, and most 
of all to be dreaded, its tendency to assume a typhoid form. These 
enlargements have been confounded with strangles, but through 
want of proper examination of the parts. 

Inflammation of the parotid gland is accompanied by heat and 
tenderness of the part, and which render the beast unwilling to eat, 
or to ruminate ; and sometimes by so much swelling as to threaten 
immediate suffocation. This is one of the varieties of swelling about 
the head of cattle characterized by the expressive term of stranyullion. 

The swelling of the parotid gland extends oftener and more rap- 
idly downward than upward, reaching the throat, and pressing upon 
all the neighboring vessels. When there is much swelling, suppura- 
tion and abscess are at hand, and should be encouraged by fomenta- 
tion ; and as soon as any motion of pus can be detected, the tumor 
should be freely lanced ; the fluid will readily escape, and the ab- 
scess fill up : but if the swelling be suffered to burst, ulcers will be 
formed, exceedingly difficult to heal, and that will too often run on 
to gangrene. It is a singular thing that while the flesh of the ox is 



206 CATTLE. 

one of the supports of human life, and no food contributes more or 
healthier nutriment, there is no animal in which grangrenous ulcers 
are so frequently formed, or in which they are so corroding and ma- 
lignant. From inflammation, apparently of only an inconsiderable 
portion of the parotid gland, we have known ulcers of the most 
offensive character extend from ear to ear, and expose the most im- 
portant vessels of the upper part of the neck. 

This inflammation is to be combated by fermentations, cataplasms, 
and, occasionally, blisters, in the early stage ; bleeding and physick- 
ing must be resorted to, according to the degree of general fever ; 
and after the ulcer has formed, the chloride of lime must be used to 
arrest the progress of gangrene, and the tincture of aloes to heal the 
part after the bursting of the abscess. Mild purgatives will be very 
useful, each of them containing aromatic or tonic medicine, 

Obstruction to the passage of the saliva will sometimes occur in 
the duct ; swelling will ensue at the place of obstruction ; and, at 
length, the fluid continuing to accumulate, will burst the vessel, and 
a fistulous ulcer will be the result. 

THE SUBMAXILLARY GLANDS. 

The second source of the saliva is from the submaxillary glands. 
The bulk of the maxillary gland is seen at fig. 17 (p. 202,) even 
posterior to the parotid gland. The direction within the branches 
of the jaw is also plainly traced ; and there is a continuation of 
glandular substance, or a collection of little glands extending on 
either side within the branches of the jaws, the common duct from 
all of which pierces through the substance at the root of the tongue, 
and opens on either side of the frrenum. 

The termination of the duct is particularly evident in cattle, and is 
very curiously constructed ; a cartilaginous plate doubles upon itself, 
and serves as a covering, or roof, to the little teat-like orifice of the 
duct. 

BARBS OR PAPS. 

Occasionally in catarrh, and oftener when the membrane of the 
mouth generally is somewhat inflamed, and the pustules of which 
we have spoken appear in various parts, these little projections like- 
wise become red and enlarged, and the beast is said to have the 
barbs or paps. To burn or cut them away, converts temporary 
inflammation into serious and even gangrenous ulcers. A dose of 
physic, and, if necessary, a moderate bleeding, will usually cause the 
barbs to disappear, or, if a little disposition to ulceration should ap- 
pear, an alum wash will be all that is needed. 

In cases of deep abscess, which sometimes appear under the 
tongue, from inflammation, or, much oftener, from improper treat- 
ment, the chloride of lime will be the first and chief application. It 
must be injected to the very bottom of the sinuses, and continued to 



THE PHARYNX. 207 



be used, several times in the day, while any unpleasant smell is per- 
ceived. To this will succeed the alum-wash, or an infusion of catechu. 

THE SUBLINGUAL GLANDS. 

The third source of the saliva is from numerous glands scattered 
over the membrane of the mouth generally, but principally collected 
at its base and under the tongue, and therefore called the sublingual 
glands. They consist of small collections of glands, with minute 
openings into the mouth, but which also a little enlarge, when there 
is tendency to inflammation in the mouth. No harm can ever come 
of these gigs and bladdeks, if let alone. On every part of the 
cheeks and lips these little glands are found ; and the quantity of 
saliva obtained from all of these, especially when they are excited to 
action in mastication or rumination, is very great. 

THE VELUM PALATI, OR SOFT PALATE. 

Advancing to the back part of the mouth, we find a curtain di- 
viding it from the pharynx, or cavity immediately above the gullet. 
It is formed of a continuation of the membrane of the mouth ante- 
riorly, of that of the nose posteriorly, and it hangs from the cres- 
cent-formed border of the palatine bone, p. 144. It reaches from 
the palate almost to the entrance into the gullet and the windpipe. 
The food is returned to the mouth in the natural process of rumina- 
tion, and also in vomiting, which occurs very rarely indeed, or, at 
least, regurgitation from the rumen, for we much doubt whether 
true vomiting, or the return of food from the fourth stomach, was 
ever seen in cattle. 

THE PHARYNX. 

The food having passed beneath this soft palate, reaches a funnel- 
shaped cavity between the mouth and the gullet and windpipe. It 
is lined by a membrane full of little glands, that pour out a viscid 
fluid, by which the pellet of food is covered and prepared to pass 
more readily down the gullet. Within this membrane are muscles 
that contract with considerable force ; and the food, almost beyond 
the action of the tongue, is seized by these muscles and forced along 
the pharynx to the entrance into the oesophagus or gullet. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NECK 
AND CHEST. 

In order to understand the proper conformation of these parts, 
differing so materially as they do in a kindly feeding and an unprof- 
itable beast, and differing, too, so much in various breeds, each 
excellent in its way, we must have recourse to two anatomical plates, 
which include, as much as possible, the whole muscular system 
of the ox. 




1. Orbicularis oris (the ring-shaped muscle of the mouth). This 
muscle is found within the border of the lips, and constituting their 
principal substance and thickness, forming two semi-ovals, and united 
together at the angle of the lips. It is large and mixed with ten- 
dinous fibres, because the lips are powerfully employed in the ox in 
grasping and assisting in tearing off the food, 

2. The elevator of the upper lip, and angle of the nose. 

3. The Zygomaticus (arising near the yoke-formed arch under 
which the temporal muscle passes) lies along the middle of the side 
of the face ; it also assists in the motion of the lips, and particularly 
in retracting the angle of the lips. This is particularly developed in 
the ox, for it has much to do in the gathering of his food. 



ANATOMY OF THE NECK AND CHEST. 209 

4. The depressor of the lower eyelid, a sub-cutaneous muscle of 
considerable development. 

5. The depressor of the lower lip, lying along the side of the 
lower jaw, and going to the inferior lateral part of the under lip, and 
to separate the under lip from the upper. 

6. Obicularis palpebrarum (the ring-shaped muscle of the lids), 
employed in keeping the eyes open. When this muscle ceases to act 
the eye closes, from the elasticity of the cartilage at the edge of the lid. 

*l. The levator of the upper eyelids. 

8. The depressor of the ear. This is a singular muscle, lying im- 
mediately under the skin ; running over, and attached to, the parotid 
gland ; and reaching from the outer side of the root of the ear, down 
to the very larynx. The ears of the ox have an extensive, although 
slow motion, and have to defend the eyes from insects. 

9. The different portions of the levator humeri, through the whole 
of their course : the upper part of this muscle was described at p. 
202. On this muscle the form of the lower part of the neck princi- 
pally depends, and it is much more developed in some breeds than 
in others. However thin and deer-like we may wish the neck of the 
ox to be at the setting on of the head, we look for plenty of muscles 
at the bottom of it, or we shall have neither strength nor substance 
in any part of the animal. 

10. The sterno-maxillaris, described at p. 203. 

11. The trapezius (the quadrilateral muscle). This muscle is 
united with the rhomboideus longus, and forms the exterior muscular 
layer immediately below the integument, and above the splenitis. 
(See p. 202, and also the next cut). On this, and on the splenius 
beneath, depends the form of the upper part of the neck and withers, 
and, in some breeds, the cervical portion of it is particularly fine. 
The combined action of the whole is to raise the scapula, and draw 
the bone forward. 

12. The latissimus dorsi, so called from its extent, being the widest 
muscle of the back, and reaching over the whole of the upper and 
side part behind the scapula, of which bone it is a muscle, drawing it 
backward, and elevating its inferior extremity. It is thin ; much 
adipose matter insinuates itself between the fibres, and gives it a false 
appearance of substance. 

13. The pectoralis major (the larger pectoral muscle). It is the 
only pectoral muscle, properly so speaking, for the minor is not 
found. There are, however, the transverse pectorals, of which wo 
shall give an account presently. From the ensiform cartilage at the 
termination of the true ribs, and even from the external oblique 
muscle of the belly, it extends forward, strongly attaching itself to 
the fourth, fifth, and sixth pieces of the sternum, and also the lesser 
tubercle of the humerus, and the inner part of the end of the scapula 
or shoulder-blade. It draws the scapula into an upright position. 



210 CATTLE. 

14. The external oblique muscle of the abdomen. It extends over 
the whole of the inferior and lateral portions of the belly, giving sup- 
port to the contents of the belly ; assisting in the evacuation of the 
faeces and urine, and also in that of the foetus, and being a valuable 
auxiliary in the process of breathing. Although it has not so much 
work to perform as an auxiliary muscle in respiration, or in support- 
ing the abdomen and its contents in the shocks to which they are 
occasionally exposed in rapid motion, yet this and the other oblique 
muscle have a great deal more constant labor than is generally sup- 
posed in supporting the immense weight of the distended paunch, 
and sometimes powerfully contracting upon it. These oblique mus- 
cles, which constitute the flank pieces of various kinds in the carcass, 
are of considerable thickness, and never overlooked by the butcher 
when examining a beast. 

15. The glutceus maximus, or great muscle, belonging to the but- 
tock, principally constitues the anterior, middle, and external parts of 
the haunch. Its attachments are very complicated, and its action is 
what its situation at once indicates, either to flex and bring forward 
the hind limbs upon the loins, or the pelvis and loins upon the hind 
limbs, accordingly as either is made a fixed point. This muscle is 
the one which is most largely concerned in propelling animals for- 
ward, and is in cattle a large one, though relatively, for no great 
speed is usually required from them, nor any sudden and powerful 
flexion of the limbs. This muscle is brought into view in cattle by 
raising the aponeurotic expansion of the fascia lata, and it is con- 
cealed superiorly and posteriorly by the prolongation of the semi- 
tendinosus muscle. 

16. Fascia lata. This muscle, although we have termed it a fascia 
or envelope, is a fleshy and tendinous expansion over the whole of 
the anterior and external surface of the thigh, whence it spreads be- 
low the stifle. Its chief use is to strengthen the muscles beneath ; 
but, besides this, it assists the extension of the leg on the thigh and 
the flexion of the thigh on the pelvis. Its fleshy portion is divided 
into two, and its tendinous expansion extends over all the muscles of 
the quarters, and unites with the principal flexor muscle of the 
thigh — the adductor magnus. This is a part of the beast where we 
look for plenty of muscle and fat, and we can hardly find quarters 
too long and too well developed. 

17 and 18. The biceps femoris, or two-headed muscle of the thigh. 
It flexes the leg upon the thigh, and contributes to turn the leg in- 
ward. In cattle, it has no spinal prolongation, and it does not 
ascend beyond the ischial tuberosity. 

19. The foramina belonging to the sub-cutaneous abdominal vein. 

The preceding numbers refer to the cut, page 202 ; those follow- 
ing, to the cut on the next page. 



ANATOMY OF THE NECK AND CHEST. 211 

1. The splenitis lying under the trapezius, and already described 
in p. 201. 




2. The anterior portion of the trapezius, extending along the edge 
of the cervical ligament, from the back of the head to within the 
superior part of the scapula, and raising the scapula and carrying it 
forward, already alluded to, p. 209. 

3. The rhomboideus longus (the long diamond-shaped muscle). It 
has already been stated that this muscle in the ox is united with the 
trapezius, and forms the superior and lateral part of the neck, extend- 
ing from the head to the withers. It varies materially in different 
breeds. Nothing can be so unlike as the ridge, or crest of the neck, 
in the Devon and the Galloway, or even the Devon and the Here- 
ford. In all cattle it is proportionally large, because the neck gene- 
rally was designed to be fleshy ; a fine crest, the neck gradually 
thickening below, may be considered as a point of beauty in cattle. 

4. The serratus anticus major (the anterior part of the great saw- 
shaped muscles, or those by which the shoulder of the animal is 
attached to the trunk, and the weight of the trunk supported). 
These muscles of the shoulder are numerous in the ox, and are sepa- 
rated from each other by cellular and adipose matter. The strength 
of attachment which rapid motion renders necessary, is not wanted, 
but the accumulation of the flesh and fat goes on wherever it can. 
The serrated muscles are seen prolonged upon the side behind the 
shoulder. 

5. One of the insertions of the levator humeri. 

6. A portion of the serratus muscle, occupying the posterior and 
inferior portion of the neck, where the neck emerges from, or enters 
into the chest. It consists of the union of two or three muscles, par- 
ticularly one lying across upon the first ribs. It is composed of a 
long band, larger posteriorly, which takes its origin about the middle 



212 CATTLE. 

of the fourth rib, and spreads forward over the three anterior ribs, 
and even to the vertebrae of the withers. 

7. Another head of the levator humeri. 

8. The t?-iceps extensor brachii, or three-headed extensor of the 
arm. Two of the portions are here seen, the one from the external 
part of the shoulder to the outer tubercle on the bone of the arm, 
and also on the outer parts of the elbow ; and the other occupying 
the angular space between the shoulder-blade and the bone of the 
arm ; the muscle lias its principal lower insertion in the posterior and 
superior part of the elbow. There is a third portion on the interior 
of the scapula and the bone of the arm. The action of the compound 
muscle is evidently to bind the humerus, or bone of the arm, on the 
shoulder-blade, and thus to extend and throw forward the lower 
part of the limb. These muscles are small in cattle for these evident 
reasons, that strength is not required in the ox, as a beast of burden, 
and his speed never taxed to any extent ; and because needless flesh 
here would be precisely in the part where it is coarsest and least 
valuable. The diminution of muscle on the external part of the 
shoulder, and the accumulation of cellular and fatty matter between 
it and the trunk, being the reverse of what we find in the horse, are 
apt illustrations of the skill with which every animal is adapted to 
his destiny. 

9. Another portion of the serrated muscles, belonging to the back 
and ribs. These are principally muscles of respiration ; they elevate 
the ribs, and bring them forward, and thus expand the chest, and 
assist in the process of inspiration. This is a small muscle, because 
from the idle life of the ox, his breathing is seldom hurried. 

10. The internal oblique muscle, or inner layer of muscles constitu- 
ting the walls of the belly. These muscles assist the external ones in 
supporting the weight of the belly, and compressing its contents. 
Being placed somewhat farther back than the external oblique, they 
will offer less assistance in respiration, but contribute more to the 
expulsion of the urine and faeces. 

17. The iliacus internus, or inner and larger muscle belonging to 
the flanks, occupies the upper and inner space between the spine and 
the thigh. Its use is to bring the thigh under the haunch, which, in 
the slow-motioned ox, is rarely performed with much rapidity or force, 
therefore it is not large. It enters into the composition of the aitch 
bone and the upper part of the round. 

18, 19, 20. The glutcei rmiscles lie on the upper and outer parts 
of the haunch, and the good or deficient form of the quarters de- 
pends upon them. They are valuable in the ox, as indicating the 
general muscularity of the system. This may, however, be carried 
too far. Contributing to the formation of the rump, and, in a cer- 
tain degree, of the round, they constitute some of the tenderest and 
most valuable parts of the ox. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE NECK. 213 

21. The piriform (pear-shaped) muscle, found within the cavity 
of the pelvis, and on the inside of the aitch-bone and the rump. 
Large and composed of soft fibres, in the ox. Its office is to assist 
in the extension of the haunch. 

22. Levator caudce brevis (the shorter elevator of the tail). It is 
used in common with other muscles to move the tail. 

23. Levator caudce longus (the long elevator of the tail). 

24. Depressor caudce, by which the tail is pressed upon the haunch, 
and that sometimes with a force that would scarcely be thought 
possible. 

25. The intertransversal muscles, whose oblique fibres run from the 
base to the edge of the bones of the tail, through its whole extent, 
and by which the lateral motions are effected. By the union of all 
of these muscles the tail is made a most effective instrument in 
driving away or destroying thousands of winged blood-suckers, by 
which the animal would otherwise be tormented. 

26. The rectus femoris, or straight muscle of the thigh, runs along 
the whole of the anterior portion of the thigh, from the ilium to the 
patella, or knee-cap. It is a very conspicuous muscle in the round, 
and helps to extend the thigh and advance the haunch. 

27. The vasti muscles, so called from their occupying the greater 
part of the thigh. The three branches are commonly distinct, but 
they are not much developed, for they have not the work to do. 
The butcher thinks that there is a great difference between the 
round of the beast that has worked, and of another that has not ; 
and he is right, for nothing tends so much to the development of 
the muscular system as regular exercise. 

28. The great adductor, or bringer forward of the thigh. This 
muscle occupies the external face of the posterior part of the thigh. 
It rises as high as the spine of the sacrum, and reaches the anterior 
portion of the leg by three different branches or heads, and thence is 
called the triceps adductor femoris. It bends the leg upon the thigh ; 
it carries the whole limb backward in the act of kicking, and also 
assists in elevating the fore part of the body in preparing for a leap. 
It is large, reaching along the spine, to the very angle of the croup. 

29. The semitendinosus, so called from its half-tendinous construc- 
tion, constitutes, with the next muscle, the posterior and internal face 
of the haunch and thigh. It is a flexor or bender of the leg. 

30. Adductor tibim longus (the long adductor, or bringer forward 
of the thigh ;) sometimes called, from its construction, the semi-tendi- 
nosus muscle. It is a flexor or bender the leg. 

The reader is now prepared to enter with us, so far as we can 
without being too dryly anatomical, into the consideration of the form 
and structure of the neck and trunk of cattle ; and particularly as con- 
nected with the production of milk while living, and beef when dead. 



214 CATTLE. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE NECK. 



The neck of the ox (see cut of skeleton, p. 143,) is composed of 
seven bones. 

In cattle there is great shortness of the neck generally — shortness, 
and yet magnitude of every bone — the avoidance of smooth surface, 
and the springing out, above and below, and on one side and the 
other, of processes which are long, broad, and roughened ; and there 
is not an elastic movement about the whole of this part of the animal, 
and the neck is level. The intention of nature is plain enough in the 
construction of the neck of the ox. All these widened, roughened, 
tuberous bones are for the attachmemt of muscles — the accumulation 
of flesh. True, these are not the prime parts of the animal, but we 
see the commencement of the principle. The animal was destined to 
produce flesh and fat for our nourishment. 

A little of the arched form of the neck may be traced in the Devon 
ox, and is no detriment either to his appearance or his actual value ; 
although common consent seems to have determined that the line 
from the horns to the withers should scarcely deviate from that of 
the back. Is this trait of the thorough bred horse, here appearing 
in cattle, connected with that activity in work for which this breed 
has ever been unrivaled ? The Sussex, and Hereford, and Pembroke, 
and Welsh, generally, and all the Scots, horned or hornless, have, occa- 
sionally at least, this rising of the forehand ; and we must be per- 
mitted still to retain this form of the neck, as one of the characteristics, 
and no defect, of the middle-horns, who, in particular districts, and 
for particular purposes, will still remain and be duly valued, when 
the triumph of the short-horns is complete in their universal diffusion. 

We must go even a little further than this, and claim the rising 
crest as an essential point in every good bull of every breed. It shall 
be what, in the majority of cases, it perhaps is, nothing more than an 
accumulation of fat about the ligament of the neck, and the s])lenius 
and comjilexius muscles ; but it indicates that broad base of muscle 
beneath — that bulk and strength of neck, so indicative of the true 
masculine character. We refer to the Devon bull (p. ]7), to whom, 
indeed, it belongs, in virtue of his breed — and we refer, also, to the 
West Highland bull (p. 42), who has the same claim to it, and also, 
to the Old Craven bull (p. 82) ; to the New Leicester bull (p. 88), 
and even to the short-horned bull (p 109). 

The actual bulk of muscle, however, in any part of the ox is not so 
much greater as the extended and roughened surfaces would lead us 
to imagine. The head, or the insertion of the muscle, may be spread 
over the whole surface of the bone ; but we have not proceeded far 
in our examination of that muscle, before we find that, its structure. 
at least in the unworked ox, is not compact muscle. A great deal 



THE PROPER FORM AND SIZE OF THE NECK. 215 

more cellular and adipose substance is inserted, not only between the 
different muscles, but between the little divisions or bundles of which 
each muscle is composed ; and, in fact, between the very fibres of 
the muscle itself; and that to so great an extent, that in a well-fatted 
beast it is almost impossible to meet with any simple muscle. The 
whole is marbled — streaks of fat, enclosed in cellular substance, run 
parallel with almost every fibre. This, at least, is the case with many 
breeds of cattle, and always is in good cattle. 

THE PROPER FORM AND SIZE OF THE NECK. 

Some breeds of cattle used to be remarkable for the fineness of the 
neck at the setting on of the head, and this was considered to be one. 
of their greatest beauties, as well at the surest proof of the purity of 
their breed : this was long the case with the Devon ox, and when, by 
chance, this fineness extended to the withers, and was accompanied 
by a shoulder almost as oblique as that of a thorough-bred horse, the 
animal was imagined to be perfect. He was a beautiful and a valua- 
ble animal, and particularly as this fineness of the neck and withers was 
usually contrasted in him by a deep breast and an open and wide 
bosom. That man, nevertheless, deserved the thanks of the Devon- 
shire breeders, who first by selection and breeding a little diminished 
this fineness of the neck ; he did not impair the general beauty of the 
animal ; he did not lessen his activity in the slightest degree ; but he 
increased his size, and his aptitude to fatten too. 

In the Ayrshire cow of twenty years ago we had a specimen of 
the extent to which a clean neck and throat might be carried, without 
perhaps diminishing at all the milking properties ; but materially to 
the disadvantage of the farmer when her milking days were past. 
This prejudice in favor of the small neck led the farmers even to 
prefer their dairy-bulls according to the feminine aspect of their heads 
and necks. Perhaps the disparity of size which then existed between 
the northern and southern cattle might somewhat justify them in 
choosing the smallest variety of the new breed. This, however, 
having passed over, the Ayrshire breeder, still fond of a neck finely 
shaped toward the head, has produced one a great deal thicker 
toward the shoulder and breast ; and this not interfering, as expe- 
rience has now taught him, with the milking qualities of the animal, 
while it gives aptitude to fatten afterwards. 

Mr. Marshall, describing the New Leicester breed, speaks of the 
forend being long, but light to a degree of elegance ; the neck thin, 
the chap clean, and the head fine ; the shoulders remarkably fine and 
thin, as to bone, but thickly covered with flesh, and not the smallest pro- 
tuberance of bone discernible. He also thus speaks of Mr. Fowler's 
celebrated bull Shakspeare: — His head, chap, and neck were remark- 
ably fine and clean ; but his chest was extraordinarily deep, and his 
brisket down to his knees. 



216 CATTLE. 

The short-horn, in his state of greatest and most unnatural fatness, 
has, or ought to have, a tendency to fineness of the neck, at the 
setting on of the head, however that neck may rapidly increase in 
bulk, and, in the opinion of some, give too great a weight to the fore- 
quarters. 

The splenius, trapezius, and complexus muscles are those which have 
most to do with the usual bulk of the superior part of the neck, and 
with that which it may attain under the process of fattening. The 
splenius may be seen at fig. 1, p. 202 ; the trapezius is depicted at 
fig. 11, p. 208 ; and the rhomboideus lonrjus, with which the trapezius 
is united, is brought into view at fig. 3, p. 211. The complexus major 
is situated under them. Some of it rises as low as the transverse 
processes of the four or five first bones of the back, and from all, 
except the two higher of the bones of the neck. It therefore has its 
greatest bulk about the lower part of the neck, and on it, and the 
fatty matter connected with it, the form and bulk of that portion of 
the neck depend. Its office is to raise the neck, and elevate .and 
protrude the head. The form of the under part of the neck is much 
influenced by the levator humeri, which is seen at fig. 4, p. 202 ; fig. 
9, p. 208 ; and, still lower down, by the pectoral muscle, for there 
is but one in the ox, seen at fig. 13, p. 208. Considering, however, 
the laxity of the muscular fibre in the ox, and the interposition of fatty 
matter in every part of the muscular system, this muscle can acquire 
considerable bulk, and is that on which the form and bulk of the 
neck, at its lower and more important part, principally depend. 
Whatever may have been said of fine and small necks, the neck must 
rapidly thicken as it descends, or we shall have a general lightness 
of carcass, which will render the animal comparatively worthless as a 
grazing beast. 

There are other muscles, however, placed under the complexus — 
viz., the complexus minor, and the large and small recti, and oblique 
muscles, concerned in the lateral motion of the head, which have 
considerable size, and contribute materially to the bulk of the neck. 

THE ARTERIES OF THE NECK. 

Before we leave the neck, we should describe the principal blood- 
vessels which are brought into view in the cut at p. 202. The caro- 
tid artery (fig. 26, pp. 202 and 205,) and some of its ramifications, 
are the only arteries that we could bring into view. The carotid 
artery on either side proceeds from the heart — escapes from the 
chest with the windpipe and the gullet ; and, approaching the 
windpipe, and clinging to its posterior surface, climbs the neck, 
supplying the different parts with blood, until it arrives at the larynx, 
where it divides into two branches — the external and internal. The 
external spreads over the face and external part of the head — the 



THE ARTERIES OF THE NECK. 217 

internal enters the skull and is the main source whence the brain 
derives its arterial blood. Smaller streams are sent to the brain from 
the vertebral arteries, which, defended and partly concealed in canals 
formed for them in the bones of the neck, after having fed the neigh- 
boring parts, likewise expend the remainder on the brain, entering 
by the great foramen, through which the spinal chord escapes. A 
third and smaller branch, leaving the main trunk high up in the neck, 
sends a small vessel to the brain, under the title of the occipital 
artery. 

We can conceive of very few, if any, cases in which it would be 
either necessary or advisable to bleed from an artery in the ox. The 
temporal is, in a manner, out of reach ; and the artery of the fore- 
head is so defended by its bony canal, as not to be easily got at ; 
besides which, in bleeding from an artery, there will always be 
extreme difficulty either in getting the quantity of blood wanted, on 
account of the contraction of the vessel, or of stopping the hcemor- 
rhage, if the blood flowed freely. 

There is one circumstance which will strike every one, and that is 
— except the larger vessels immediately from the heart — the smallness 
of the arteries, and the largeness of the veins. What enormous ves- 
sels are the jugulars and milk veins ! And what a torrent of blood 
will pour from them if a large incision be made ! We shall bear 
this in mind as we pass on. 

The submaxillary artery has been already described (fig. 27, pp. 
202 and 205,) pursuing its course anteriorily, to bury itself beneath 
the angle of the lower jaw, whence it speedily emerges again, and 
close to the angle of the jaw. This should be remembered when 
we are feeling for the pulse. It occurs under some circumstances of 
disease, that it is difficult, or impossible, to ascertain the pulse at the 
jaw, and should, therefore, teach us to go at once to the side when 
there is any difficulty about the jaw. 

The temporal artery is much larger, because it has a great surface 
to ramify upon and to feed : the figure will point out the spot at 
which the pulse will usually be most conveniently felt. 

The anterior auricular artery is also large. It supplies not only the 
anterior muscles of the ear, but also the temporal muscle, deeply 
lodged in the temporal fossa. The pulse may be very readily felt by 
means of it, and perhaps more readily than from the temporal. 

The superciliary artery, escaping from the foramen above the orbit 
of the eye, is a considerable one. It forms two branches, of which 
one goes to the root of the horn, and contributes to the vascularity 
and nutriment of that part. The other descends downward, on the 
side of the face. 

The occipital artery is small, the brain of the ox, which a branch 
of this artery supplies, being small compared to his size. 

10 



218 CATTLE. 

THE VEINS OF THE NECK. 

We here recognize the two jugulars which ate found in most ani- 
mals. The smaller, or internal jugular (fig. 25, p. 202,) is deeply 
seated, and no practical advantage can be taken of it, save the 
knowledge, that in inflammation and loss of the external vein from 
bleeding, the return of the blood from that side of the face and head 
would be facilitated by the internal one, for nature is wonderfully 
ingenious in making provision for carrying on the circulation. 

BLEEDING. 

The jugular is the usual place for bleeding cattle. The vessel is 
easily got at ; is large, and can scarcely be missed by the clumsiest 
operator. The strap round the neck, in order to raise the vein, 
should be dispensed with. It presses equally on both sides of the 
neck ; and serious consequences are sometimes produced by this 
sudden stoppage of the return of so much of the blood by the vein. 
If the vein be pressed upon by the finger, a little below the intended 
bleeding place, it will become sufficiently prominent to guide any 
one. 

The instrument should be the lancet, but one considerably broad- 
shouldered. A large vessel will bear a proportionably larger orifice ; 
and the good effect of bleeding depends more on the rapidity with 
which the blood is abstracted, than on the quantity drawn. The 
cowherd, or the owner of cattle, would do better to confine himself 
to the stick and fleam, for the hide of the ox is so thick, and the edge 
of the lancet is so apt to turn, that it requires a little experience and 
tact to bleed with certainty and safety. 

In the abstraction of blood, and especially at the commencement 
of a disease, or Avhile inflammation runs high, the rule is to let the 
blood flow until the pulse plainly indicates that the circulation is 
affected. All other bleeding is worse than useless — it is sapping the 
strength of the constitution, and leaving the power of the enemy un- 
impaired. 

Bad necks in cattle, after bleeding, are not common. They must 
be treated by fomentations and emollient lotions at first, and when 
these fail, the application of the heated iron to the lips of the wound ; 
or, in very bad cases, the introduction of setons, or the injection of 
the zinc-wash into the sinus. 

BLEEDING PLACES. 

If any affection of the mouth, or the nasal passages, should de- 
mand local bleeding, cattle may be bled from the palatine vessels or 
veins of the mouth. If the operator cuts but deep enough, plenty 
of blood will be obtained. The cei^halics before, and the taphena 



THE MILK, OR SUB-CUTANEOUS ABDOMINAL VEIN. 219 

veins behind, are proper places for bleeding — and some say the 
milk, or sub-cutaneous abdominal vein. This last vein is large 
enough for the speedy abstraction of any quantity of blood in the 
shortest period ; but the jugular is the most convenient bleeding- 
place in particular cases ; and the only question is, whether any local 
advantage can be obtained by opening the sub-cutaneous abdominal. 

THE MILK, OR SUB-CUTANEOUS ABDOMINAL VEIN. 

This vein first comes into view under the abdomen, at the com- 
mencement of the cartilaginous circle of the false ribs. It emerges 
from two foramina, or openings, (the situation of which is pointed 
out by fig. 18, p. 208.) It approaches, on either side, the mesian 
line of the abdomen, and burying itself between the thighs, it pur- 
sues its course towards the inguinal vein. Sometimes it unites with 
the superpubian vein, and occasionally gives a branch to the sub- 
pelvian. In the neighborhood of the cartilaginous circle, it presents 
two branches, the one external and superior, the other internal and 
inferior. The first springs from various cutaneous ramifications, 
reaching even to the thorax, and anastomosing or communicating 
with some of the sub-cutaneous veins of the thorax. The other 
branch penetrates within the cartilaginous circle, and goes to unite 
with a principal division of the veins of the sternum. 

This milk vein is derived from numerous ramifications from the 
walls of the chest, as far anteriorly as the breast bone, and taking in 
some of the external intercostals. It belongs to the respiratory sys- 
tem more than to any other. As it advances posteriorly along the 
abdomen, it creeps by the side of the udder, or of the scrotum, and 
empties itself partly into the inguinal, and partly into the sub-pelvian 
vein. As it travels along the abdomen and the groin, it receives 
some muscular and cutaneous fibres, but nothing more. Its use is to 
assist in returning the blood from these parts, and also by this round- 
about journey, and these curious connections, to establish a free com- 
munication between the anterior and posterior cavae, or the blood 
which is returned from the anterior and posterior portions of the 
body. This may be a matter of considerable consequence in certain 
states of the constitution. 

Should we have recourse to the milk vein in order to obtain the 
benefit of local bleeding ? We should in cases of abdominal inflam- 
mation, for we should unload the vessels of the walls of the abdo- 
men, and probably assist in unloading some of the internal vessels 
too, and we should abate the danger of peritoneal inflammation. 
For yet stronger reasons, we should have recourse to it in thoracic 
affection, for most of the smaller ramifications which compose this 
vein come from the thorax, and there is greater sympathy, and there 
are more numerous connections between the outer and inner portion 
of the wall of the chest than of the abdomen. But if we were to 



220 CATTLE. 

have recourse to bleeding from this vein, in garget, or any inflamma- 
tory affection of the udder, we should betray our ignorance of 
anatomy ; and still more so should we do it if we regarded this milk 
vein as having any further connection with the secretion of milk, 
than as being a kind of measure or standard of the power and de- 
velopment of the vascular system, with the existence of which the 
secretion of milk, as well as the secretions generally, is essentially 
connected. 

THE HEART. 

We can trace the veins in their course down the neck to the heart, 
and the arteries working their way upward from the heart, the great 
source of the circulation of the blood. The lungs, on either side, 
are inclosed in a separate and perfect bag ; each lung has its distinct 
pleura or membrane. The heart lies between these two membranes ; 
and, more perfectly to cut off all injurious connection between the 
lungs and the heart — all communication of disease — the heart is 
inclosed in a pleura, or bag, of its own, termed the pericardium. 
This membrane closely invests the heart ; it supports it in its situa- 
tion, prevents too great dilatation when it is gorged with blood, and 
too violent action when it is sometimes unduly stimulated. Notwith- 
standing the confinement of the heart by the pericardium, it 
beats violently enough against the ribs under circumstances of unu- 
sual excitation ; and were it not thus tied down, it would often 
bruise and injure itself, and cause inflammation in the neighboring 
parts. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE PERICARDIUM. 

This membrane is occasionally the seat of obscure, unsuspected, 
and fatal diseases. The cow is a greedy animal ; she swallows al- 
most everything that comes in her way. She will pick up large 
pins, needles, and nails. A friend of ours lost a cow from some 
disease which neither he nor the medical attendant understood. On 
opening her, a piece of wire, two inches in length, was found stick- 
ing in the pericardium, and which had produced extensive ulceration 
and gangrene there. 

We are strongly inclined to believe that these diseases occur 
oftener than has been suspected ; these pointed substances, which 
in other animals take very strange but generally comparatively harm- 
less courses, in order to work their way out of the body, select in 
the cow this dangerous and fatal course. The proprietors of cattle, 
and of cows particularly — for the cow chiefly, or almost alone, has 
this strange propensity — should be careful as to the manner of feed- 
ing them. 



THE HEART. 221 



TFIE HEART. 



In all animals the existence of life is connected with, or rather 
dependent upon, the constant supply of fresh arterial blood. There 
is not a secretion that can be performed, or a function discharged, or 
a single motion accomplished, without the presence of this vital fluid. 
The heart is the grand engine by which it is circulated through the 
frame. Tt is a large muscle, or combination of muscles, totally 
independent of the will, and working without cessation and without 
fatigue, from the first day of existence until its close. It is the 
forcing pump by which the vital current, having completed its course, 
is made to Aoav again and again to every part of the system. It 
consists of four cavities, surrounded by muscular walls, which, stimu- 
lated by the organic nerves, can contract upon, and drive out, and 
propel forward, the fluid which they contain, and then, left to them- 
selves, can instantly re-assume their open dilated state by their inhe- 
rent power of elasticity. 

A portion of the blood has completed the circulation, and enters 
the upper cavity of the heart — the right auricle — where it accumu- 
lates as in a reservior, until there is enough to fill the second and 
lower cavity on the same side — the right ventricle — when the 
auricle suddenly contracts and drives the blood forward into the 
ventricle. But this blood is in a venous state, having just come from 
the veins, and will not support life ; then it must change its character 
before it is thrown back again into the circulation. It must be con- 
veyed into the lungs, there to be exposed to the influence of the 
atmospheric air, and purified, and arterialized. For this purpose, the 
ventricle, stimulated by nervous energy, contracts, and as it con- 
tracts, it drives a little of the blood back, but it forces more under a 
dense fringed membrane which hangs around the opening between 
the auricle and the ventricle, and this membrane, thus raised up all 
round, closes the opening, and prevents the return of the principal 
part of the blood that way, and it is urged through another opening 
into the lungs. 

These fringes, which, in the dilated state of the ventricle, hang 
loose, but which are forced up as the blood insinuates itself behind 
them when the ventricle contracts, discharge the function of a perfect 
valve : they are tied down to a certain extent by cords attached to 
their edges, and which spring from certain fleshy or muscular columns 
that arise within the ventricle. The edges, therefore, are permitted 
to be elevated, until they have attained a horizontal direction, and 
meet each other, and perfectly close the opening, and then are 
stopped by these tendinous cords, which oppose their strength to the 
further elevation of the fringes, and that regulated or increased by 
the muscular power of the columns beneath. 

In the ox, the venous system is very large. The vessels are 



222 CATTLE. 

numerous and large, and blood in large quantities pours on toward 
the right auricle and ventricle of the heart. These tendinous cords, 
and the muscular columns beneath, are very large and strong, in 
order to afford adequate resistance to the greater pressure of the 
blood. In this ventricle, there is also a band or fleshy muscle, run- 
ning across from one side to the other, the double effect of which is 
beautifully evident, viz., to prevent this cavity from being too much 
dilated, or possibly ruptured, when the blood flows rapidly into the 
heart ; and to assist the ventricle in contracting on the blood. A small- 
er and more tendinous band runs across the same ventricle, lower 
down, and for the same purpose. From the peculiar arrangement of 
the circulatory system, there is always this pouring on of blood to be 
arterialized ; for the secretion of milk, or the deposition of fat, con- 
stitute the daily, unremitting duties of the animal. There is given, 
not only to provide against accident, but to fit the heart for this 
incessant hard work, this supplemental muscle, in the form of a fleshy 
band stretching across from one side to the other, preventing dilata- 
tion and assisting in contraction. 

The blood is driven out of the right ventricle into the lungs, and .is 
there exposed to the action of the atmospheric air, and purified ; 
thence it is returned to the left auricle, passes into the left ventricle, 
and, by the contraction of that cavity, is propelled through the arteries. 

The aortas are the large vessels which first receive the blood from 
the heart in order to carry it through the body. The vessels from 
the left ventricle, which carry the arterial blood through the frame, 
and those from the right ventricle, that convey the venous bluod to 
the lungs, alike spring from the muscular and fleshy septum, or wall, 
that separates the cavities of the heart, and divides that organ into 
two distinct parts. The ventricles of the heart of the ox have con- 
stant and hard work to do, and additional strength is given by the 
insertion of a bone into the septum at the base of these arteries, more 
belonging to the aorta than to the pulmonary artery, but meant as a 
support to both. 

The heart is subject to inflammation. It is principally recognized 
by the strength of the pulse, and by the bounding action of the heart, 
evident enough when the hand is placed on the side of the chest, and 
which may be seen and heard even at a distance. 

THE ARTERIAL SYSTEM. 

The blood is carried on through the arteries by the force of the 
heart. These are composed or three coats ; the outer, or elastic, by 
which they yield to the gush of blood ; the muscular coat, by which 
the artery contracts again when the gush of blood has passed ; and 
the inner, or smooth, glistening coat, which lessens the friction of the 
blood against the side of the vessel, and its consequent gradual retar- 
dation in its course. 



INFLAMMATION. 223 



THE PULSE. 

The muscular coat of the artery can be felt giving way to the gush 
of blood : and the expansion of the artery, as the blood passes, is 
called the pulse. Every one who knows the least about cattle is 
sensible of the importance of the indications to be obtained by the 
pulse. The heat of blood may be felt at the root of the horn ; and 
the rallying of the blood round some important, but inflamed part, 
may be guessed at by means of the coldness of the ear, or the 
extremities : but by the pulse we ascertain the state of the general 
system, and the increased force or debility of that central machine on 
which every secretion and every function depends. It has been 
stated that the pulse is not easily felt at the jaw. The temporal 
artery will generally be sufficiently distinct ; but it will be most 
convenient to ascertain the beating of the heart itself, by placing the 
hand on the left side, a little within and behind the elbow. The 
average pulse of a full-grown healthy ox is about forty. 

THE CAPILLARIES. 

The blood continues to circulate along the arteries, until they and 
their ramifications have diminished so much in size, as to be termed 
capillaries, or hair-like tubes, although many of them are not one- 
hundredth part so large as a hair. The heart ceases to have 
influence here. No force from behind could drive the blood through 
vessels so minute. Another power is called into exercise, namely, the 
influence of the organic motor, or moving nerves, on the muscular 
sides of these little tubes. 

This is by far the most important part of the circulation. The 
blood is carried through the arteries mechanically, and without 
change in them ; it is returned through the veins mechanically, and 
almost without change in them also : but it is in the capillary system 
that every secretion is performed, and that the nutrition of every 
part is effected. The arteries and veins are mere mechanical tubes ; 
the capillaries are connected with the vital principle — they are 
portions of life itself. 

INFLAMMATION. 

The arteries are subject to inflammation, yet so rarely in the ox as 
to render it unnecessary to detain us in describing it ; but a similar 
affection of the capillaries constitutes the very essence and the most 
dangerous part of every other disease. Inflammation is increased 
action of these vessels. When the increased action is confined to a 
few capillaries, or a small space, or a single organ, the inflammation 
is said to be local ; but when it embraces the whole of the system, 
it assumes the name of fever 



224 CATTLE. 

If inflammation be the consequence of increased action of the 
capillaries, the object to be effected is to reduce that inordinate 
action to the healthy standard, before the part has become debili- 
tated or destroyed by this overwork. Bleeding is one of the most 
effectual measures, and especially local bleeding. The increased 
action of the vessels, and the consequent redness, heat and swelling 
of the part, are at once the consequence of inflammatory action, and 
tend to prolong and to increase it. A copious bleeding, therefore, by 
relieving the overloaded vessels, and enabling them once more to 
contract on their contents, is indicated. To this physic will follow, 
and there is scarcely an inflammatory disease in the ox in which it 
can, by possibility, be injurious. Mashes and cooling diet will be 
essential. 

As to external applications, they will be best treated of when the 
different species of inflammation are discussed ; but, as a general rule, 
in superficial inflammation, and in the earlj r stage of the disease, cold 
lotions will be the most useful ; in cases of deeper-seated injury, and 
of considerable standing, warm fomentations will be preferable. The 
first will best succeed in abstracting the inflammatory heat ; the 
other will relax the fibres of the neighboring parts, which press upon, 
and perpetuate, the injury, and will also restore the suspended per- 
spiration. Cases, however, continually occur in which the most 
opposite treatment is required in different stages of inflammation. 



We have described fever as general capillary action, and with or 
without any local affection ; or it is the consequence of the sympathy 
of the system with inflammation of some particular part. The first is 
called pxire or idiopathic fever ; the other symptomatic fever. 

Pure fever is frequent in cattle. A beast, yesterday in good health, 
is observed to-day — dull, the muzzle dry, rumination and grazing 
having quite ceased, or being carelessly or lazily performed, the flanks 
heave a little, the root of the horn is unnaturally hot, the pulse is 
quickened, and is somewhat hard. The animal is evidently not well, 
but the owner cannot discover any local affection or disease ; he gives 
a dose of physic ; perhaps he bleeds ; he places a mash before his 
patient, and, on the following day, the beast is considerably better, 
or well ; or possibly, the animal, although apparently better in the 
morning, becomes worse as the day advances, and at about the hour, 
or a little later, when he was seen on the preceding day. This is but 
a slight attack of fever, without local affection, or intermittent fever, 
still without local determination, and which goes on for three or four 
days, returning, or being aggravated at a particular hour, until by 
means of cordial purgatives the chain is broken. 

At other times, the fever remains without these imtermissions. 



INFLAMMATORY FEVER. 225 

It increases daily, notwithstanding the means employed, and at length 
assumes the form of pleurisy, or enteritis, or some local inflamma- 
tory complaint. The general irritation has here concentrated itself 
on some organ either previously debilitated, or at that time predis- 
posed to take on inflammation. It is pure or idiopathic fever, as- 
suming, after a while, a local determination. This is a serious, and 
frequently a fatal case ; for the whole system having been previously 
affected, and, probably, debilitated, and disposed to take on inflam- 
matory action, the proper remedies cannot be so fearlessly and suc- 
cessfully used. Local means of abating inflammation must here be 
pushed to their full extent. 

Symptomatic fever is yet more frequent and dangerous. No or- 
gan of consequence can be long disordered or inflamed, without the 
neighboring parts being disturbed, and the whole system gradually 
sharing in the disturbance. By the degree of this general affection, 
by the heat of the mouth, and the frequency of the pulse, a judg- 
ment is formed not only of the degree of general disturbance, but 
of the intensity of the local affection. The subsidence of the pulse, 
and the return of the appetite, and the recommencement of rumina- 
tion, are indications both of the diminution of the general irritation, 
and the local cause of it. 

Some have denied the existence of this essential fever in cattle, 
but the facts that have been stated cannot be doubted. It would 
be scarcely necessary to recur to this were there not so many instan- 
ces of bad and dangerous practice in the early treatment of these 
cases. If fever were plainly recognized, the owner or the surgeon 
would be more anxious to get rid of the local affection before the 
system was materially affected ; and if he was aware of pure and 
essential fever, he would endeavor to remove it before it took on local 
determination. These are the golden rules of practice, which no 
nonsensical theories should cause any one for a moment to forget. 

INFLAMMATORY FEVER THE BLOOD BLOOD-STRIKING BLACK-LEG 

QUARTER-EVIL, OR BLACK-QUARTER. 

Thousands of cattle fall victims every year to a disease, which, 
from its virulent character and speedy course, may be termed inflam- 
matory fever. A disease of this character, but known by a number 
of strange yet expressive terms, is occasionally prevalent, and ex- 
ceedingly fatal among cattle in every district. It is termed black- 
quarter, quarter-evil, joint-murrain, blood-striking, shoot of blood, 
&c; and although it may not, at any time, embody all the symp- 
toms of either of these diseases, according, at. least, as they are un- 
derstood in some parts of the country, there are few cases in which 
the prevailing symptoms of most of them are not exhibited in some 
of the stages. 

10* 



226 CATTLE. 

Cattle of all descriptions and ages are occasionally subject to in- 
flammatory fever ; but young stock, and those that are thriving most 
rapidly, are its chief victims. So aware is the proprietor of young 
short-horn cattle of this, that while he is determined to take full ad- 
vantage of their unrivalled early maturity by turning them on more 
luxuriant pasture than prudence would always dictate, he endeavors 
to guard himself by periodical bleeding, or by the insertion of setons 
in the dewlap of all his yearlings. This disease is sometimes epi- 
demic, that is, the cattle of a certain district have been pushed on 
too rapidly ; they have lurking inflammation about them, or they 
have a tendency to it ; and, by-and-bye, comes some change or state 
of the atmosphere which acts upon this inflammatory predisposition, 
and the disease runs through the district. 

There are few premonitory symptoms of inflammatory fever. Of- 
ten without any, and generally with very slight indications of previ- 
ous illness, the animal is found with his neck extended ; his head 
brought, as much as he can affect it, into a horrizontal position ; 
the eyes protruding, and red ; the muzzle dry ; the nostrils expand- 
ed ; the breath hot ; the root of the horn considerably so ; the 
mouth partly open ; the tongue enlarged, or apparently so ; the 
pulse full, hard, and from 65 to 70 ; the breathing quickened and 
laborious ; the flanks violently heaving, and the animal moaning in 
a low and peculiar way. 

Sometimes the animal is in full possession of his senses, but gen- 
erally there is a degree of unconsciousness of surrounding objects : he 
will stand for an hour or more without the slightest change of pos- 
ture, he can scarcely be induced to move, or when compelled to do 
so, he staggers ; and the staggering is principally referable to the 
hind quarters ; rumination has ceased, and the appetite is quite gone. 
After a while he becomes more uneasy, yet it is oftener a change 
of posture to ease his tired limbs, than a pawing : at length he lies 
down, or rather drops ; gets up almost immediately ; is soon down 
again ; and debility rapidly increasing, he continues prostrate ; some- 
times he lies in a comatose state ; at others, there are occasional but 
fruitless efforts to rise. The symptoms rapidly increase : there is 
no intermission ; and the animal dies in twelve to twenty-four hours. 

In a majority of cases, and especially if the disease has been prop- 
erly treated, the animal seems to rally a little, and some of the symp- 
toms appear, from which the common names of the disease derive 
their origin. The beast attempts to get up : after some attempts he 
succeeds, but he is sadly lame in one or both of the hind quarters. 
If he is not yet fallen, he suddenly becomes lame ; so lame as to 
scarcely be able to move. He has quarter-evil — joint-murrain. 

This is not always an unfavorable symptom. The disease may 
be leaving the vital parts for those of less consequence. If the 
apparent return of strength continues for a day or two, we may en- 



INFLAMMATORY FEVER. 227 

courage some hope, but we must not be sanguine ; for it is too often 
only a temporaiy and delusive respite. 

One of the symptoms now most to be dreaded is the rapid pro- 
gress of that which has already begun to appear — tenderness on 
the loins and back. The patient will not bear even the slightest 
pressure on these parts. The case is worse if to these be added 
swelling's about the shoulders, and back, and loins, with a peculiar 
crackling emphysematous noise, as if some gas were extricated in 
the cellular membrane, and the process of decomposition had com- 
menced during the life of the animal. Worse even than this is the 
appearance of sudden, hard, scurfy patches of what seems to be 
dead skin. It is a kind of dry gangrene, and it is the commence- 
ment of a sloughing process, extensive and rapid to an almost in- 
conceivable degree. Now, we have black -quarter, with all its fear- 
ful character. 

The ulcers first appear about the belly, the quarters, and the 
teats, but they spread everywhere, and particularly about the. 
mouth and muzzle. The mouth is invariably ulcerated, and the 
tongue is blistered and ulcerated too ; and there is either a discharge 
of sanious, offensive, or bloody fluid from the nose and mouth, or 
considerable haemorrhage from both of them. Now, the urine, which 
had before been high-colored, becomes darker, or bloody ; the dung 
likewise has streaks of blood over it, and both are exceedingly 
fetid. 

In this state the animal may continue two or three days, until it 
dies a mass of putridity ; unless there has been an honest, active 
assistant, who never shrinks from his duty, and who will properly 
dress the ulcers and administer the medicines. Many a beast has 
been saved even at this point of the disease. The first favorable 
symptom will be a slight diminution of the fetor — the ulcers will 
then speedily heal, and the strength return. 

The chief appearance after death will be venous congestion every- 
where. The larger and the smaller veins will be black, and dis- 
tended almost to bursting. It is a striking illustration of the pecu- 
liar vascular system of the animal, and speaks volumes as to the 
mode of treating this and similar diseases. 

The congestion is everywhere. It affects both of the pleuras, the 
intercostal and the pulmonary, and the whole substance of the lungs. 
It extends over the peritoneum, and more particularly over the mu- 
cous membrane of the intestines ; and patches of inflammation and 
ulceration are found in every part of the colon. These are the ap- 
pearances when the animal is carried off during the inflammatory 
stage of the disease. 

If the complaint has assumed a putrid type, there is effusion, the 
smell of which can scarcely be borne, both in the chest and belly ; 
with adhesion and agglutination of all the small intestines ; often 



223 CATTLE. 

vomicae in the lungs, and effusion in the pericardium. Every stomach 
is inflamed, and the fourth ulcerated through. The substance of the 
liver is broken down. There are ulcerations generally of the smaller, 
and always of the larger, intestines ; and in every part of the cel- 
lular membrane there are large patches of inflammation running fast 
into gangrene. 

There cannot be a doubt respecting either the nature or treatment 
of such a disease. It is, at first, of a purely inflammatory charac- 
ter, but the inflammation is so intense as speedily to destroy the 
powers of nature. The capillary vessels must have been working 
with strange activity, in order to fill and to clog every venous canal. 
The congestion prevails in the cranium as well as in other parts, 
and the distended vessels press upon the substance of the brain, and 
that pressure is propagated to the commencement of the nerves ; 
and hence debility, and staggering, and almost perfect insensibility. 
As the congestion early takes place, the coma, or stupor, is early 
in its appearance. 

The nervous energy being thus impeded, the power of locomotion 
seems first to fail ; then general debility succeeds, and at length 
other parts of the vascular system are involved. The mouths of 
the excretory ducts can no longer contract on their contents; hence 
fluid is effused in the chest and in the belly, and in the cellular 
membrane ; and hence, too, the rapid formation of others. The vital 
powers generally are weakened, and in consequence of this there 
is the speedy tendency of every excretion to putridity, and the actual 
commencement of decomposition, while the animal is j et alive. The 
blood shares in this abstraction or deficiency of vitality, and hence 
the disposition to ulceration, gangrene, and dissolution, by which the 
later stages of the disease are characterized. 

Inflammatory fever, although not confined to young stock, is far 
most prevalent among them. It appears principally in the spring 
and fall of the year, for then we have the early and late flush of 
grass. On poor ground it is comparatively unknown ; but the young 
and the old stock, in thriving condition, need to be closely watched 
when the pasture is good and the grass springing. If it be at times 
epidemic, it is only when the season, or the eagerness of the farmer, 
have exposed the constitution to an excess of otherwise healthy 
stimulus, and when the animal is in a manner prepared for fever. 

When the early part of the spring has been cold and ungenial, and 
then the warm weather has suddenly set in, nothing is so common 
as inflammatory fever ; but the change in the temperature, or other 
qualities of the atmosphere, has had only an indirect effect in pro- 
ducing this ; it is the sudden increase of nutriment which has done 
the mischief. When cattle are moved from a poor to a more luxu- 
riant pasture, if the new grass be sufficiently high, they distend the 
paunch almost to bursting, and hoove is the result ; but if the 



INFLAMMATORY FEVER. 229 

change be more in the quality than in the quantity of the food, the 
evil is more slowly produced, and it is more fatal — a disposition to 
inflammation is excited, which wants but a slight stimulus to kindle 
into a flame. It is the penalty which the breeder must pay, or the 
evil which he must carefully, and not always successfully, endeavor 
to avoid, when he is endeavoring to obtain all the advantage he can 
from the richness of his pasture, the aptitude to fatten, and the 
early maturity, of his cattle. Milch cows are, generally speaking, 
exempt from inflammatory fever. 

Inflammatory fever is sometimes caused by the driving of fat beasts 
in the beginning of summer with too much hurry. It has broken 
out among stall-fed cattle still later in the year, when the process of 
fattening has been injudiciously hastened. In fact, from the peculiar 
vascular system of cattle, the excitement of too much food is the 
usual cause of inflammatory fever in them. The vascular system is 
most subject to disease in the ox, for we keep him, as nearly as we 
can with any rational hope of safety, in a state of plethora. 

The very name of the disease, inflammatory fever, indicates the 
mode of treatment. In a case of excessive vascular action, the first 
and most important step is copious bleeding. As much blood must 
be taken as the animal will bear to lose ; and the stream must flow 
on until the beast staggers or threatens to fall. Here, more than in 
any other disease, there must be no foolish directions about quantities. 
As much blood must be taken away as can be got ; for it is only by 
bold depletory measures that a malady can be subdued that runs its 
course so rapidly. 

Purging must immediately follow. Epsom salts are here, as in 
most inflammatory diseases, the best purgative. A pound and a half, 
dissolved in water or gruel, and poured down the throat as gently as 
possible, should be the first dose ; and no aromatic should accompany 
it. If this does not operate in the course of six hours, another pound 
should be given ; and, after that, half-pound doses every six hours 
until the effect is produced. 

At the expiration of the first six hours the patient should be care- 
fully examined. Is the pulse slower, softer ? If not, he must be 
bled a second time, and until the circulation is once more affected. 
If the animal be somewhat better, yet not to the extent that could be 
wished, the practitioner would be warranted in bleeding again, pro- 
vided the sinking and fluttering of the pulse does not indicate the 
commencement of debility. 

If the pulse be a little quieted, and purging has taken place, and 
the animal is somewhat more himself, the treatment should be fol- 
lowed up by the diligent exhibition of sedative medicines. A drachm 
and a half of digitalis, and one drachm of emetic tartar, and half an 
ounce of nitre, should be given three times every day ; and setons 



230 CATTLE. 

inserted in the dewlap. Those of black hellebore-root are the best, 
as producing the quickest and the most extensive inflammation. 

If the animal be not seen until the inflammatory stage of the fever 
has nearly passed, the skill of the practitioner will be put to the test. 
Has the animal been bled ? if it has not, nothing can excuse the 
neglect of bleeding now, except debility too palpable to be mistaken. 
It may perhaps be more truly affirmed, that even that should be no 
excuse. This congestion of blood is a deadly weight on the consti- 
tution, which the powers of unassisted nature will not be able to 
throw off. It must be very great debility, indeed, which should 
frighten the practitioner from this course ; and debility which, in 
ninety-nine times out of a hundred, would terminate in death. As a 
general rule in this stage of the disease, the effect of bleeding should 
certainly be tried ; but cautiously — very cautiously — and with the 
finger constantly on the pulse. If the pulse gets rounder and softer 
as the blood flows, the abstraction of blood will assuredly be service- 
able ; and if the pulse becomes weaker, and more indisiinct, no harm 
will have been done, provided that the orifice be immediately closed. 

Physic will, in this stage of the disease, also be indispensable ; but 
double the usual quantity of the aromatic should be added, in order 
to stimulate the rumen, if the drink should get into it, and also to 
stimulate the fourth stomach and the whole of the frame, if fortunately 
it should reach so far as this stomach. A pound of the Epsom salts 
at first, and half-pound doses afterwards, until the bowels are opened, 
will be sufficient in this stage ; and if, after the fourth dose, (injec- 
tions having been given in the meantime,) purging is not produced, 
the quantity of the aromatic, but not of the purgative, may be 
increased. It is probable that the medicine has found its way into 
the rumen, where it will remain inert until that cuticular and com- 
paratively insensible stomach is roused to action by the stimulus of 
the aromatic. No other medicine should be given until the bowels 
have been opened ; and in many cases very little other medicine will 
afterwards be required. 

The bowels having been opened, recourse should be had once more 
to the pulse. If it indicate any degree of fever, as it sometimes will, 
(for the apparent debility is not always the consequence of exhaustion, 
but of vascular congestion,) the physic must be continued, but the 
constitution would perhaps be too weak for the direct sedative medi- 
cine. On the other hand, however, no tonic medicine must be given. 
If, however, the pulse be weak, wavering, irregular, giving sufficient 
intimation that the fever has passed, and debility succeeded, recourse 
may be had to tonic medicines. The tonics, however, which in such 
cases would be beneficial in cattle, are very few. Mineral tonics have 
rarely produced any satisfactory result — but in gentian, calombo, and 
ginger, the diseases of cattle find almost everything to be wished. 



INFLAMMATORY FEVER. 231 

The two first are excellent stomachics, as well as tonics ; the last is 
a tonic, simply because it is the very best stomachic in the cattle 
pharmacopoeia. They may be given three times every day, in doses 
of a drachm each of the two first, and half a drachm of the last. 
They will be more effectual in these moderate doses than in the 
overwhelming quantities in which some administer them, and in which 
they oppress and cause nausea, rather than stimulate and give 
appetite. They should always be given in gruel, with half a pint or 
even a pint of sound ale. 

The practitioner may possibly be called in after ulcers have broken 
out, and the sloughing process has commenced : there must be no 
bleeding then ; the vitality of the system has received a sufficient 
shock, and various parts of it are actually decomposing ; but physic 
is necessary, with a double dose of the aromatic, in order to rouse the 
energies of the digestive system, and to get rid of much offensive and 
dangerous matter collected in the intestinal canal. Epsom salts will 
here also constitute the best purgative. The enlargements about the 
knee, and elbow, and stifle, and hock, should be fomented with warm 
water ; and any considerable indurations, and especially about the 
joints, embrocated with equal parts of turpentine, hartshorn, and 
camphorated spirit. 

The ulcers should be carefully and thoroughly washed several 
times every day with a solution of the chloride of lime, of the strength 
already recommended. The ulcers about the muzzle, mouth, and 
throat, should be treated in a similar manner ; and a pint of the 
solution may be horned down twice in the course of the first day. 
If there be hoose or bloat, this will combine with the extricated gas, 
and prevent the continued formation of it ; and it will materially cor- 
rect the fetor which pervades the whole of the digestive canal. 
Mashes and plenty of thick gruel should be offered to the beast, and 
forced upon him by means of the stomach-pump if he refuse to take 
it voluntarily. In this case, the pipe should not be introduced more 
than half-way down the oesophagus, as there will then be greater 
probability of the liquor flowing on into the fourth stomach. 

Tonics should on no account be neglected, but be administered 
simply to rouse to action the languid or almost lifeless powers of the 
frame. 

If the stench from the ulcers does not abate, the solution of the 
chloride should be quickly increased to a double strength ; but as 
soon as the fetor has ceased, and the wounds begin to have a 
healthy appearance, the healing ointment or the tincture of aloes 
may be adopted, and the latter is preferable. When the animal 
begins to eat, he should be turned into a field close at hand, the 
grass of which has been cropped pretty closely. A seton or a rowel 
should be retained for three or four weeks ; but as for medicine, it 
cannot be too soon discontinued when the animal is once set on its 



232 CATTLE. 

When art baa rabdned the nature, although .slowly, 

will d eeefully resume her ironted fanctaoi 

The breeder has much in his power in the way of prevention. His 
caul*: should be carefully examined every day. Any little hearing 

at the flanks, or inflammation of the eye , 09 heat-burnps on the back, 

or robbing, should be regarded with suspicion, and met by a gentle 

purgative, or the abstraction of a little blood ; but the decided 
appearance of inflammatory f<:vcr in one of them will not be misun- 
derstood for a moment; it will convince him that he has been making 
more baste than good speed, and in the diaeaae of one he will see the 
danger of nil. All who have been subject to the '-arnc predisposing 
of diaeaae, should he hied and physicked, and turned into a 
field of short and inferior keep. 

Prevention of this malady i-. the only cure worth notice. A piece 

Oil or inferior keep should he reserved as a digesting place, in 

which the cattle may be occasionally turned to empty and exercise 

themaelres. Tho-,c obaerred to advance very fast may be bled 
monthly h<r several months; but occasional purges of alterative 
medicines would prevent those diseases which seem to take their rise 

in orer-repletion and accumulation, and are far better than bleeding. 
These periodical bleeding! increase rather than Lessen the disposi- 
tion to make blood and fat. 

This disease differs materially in its symptoms in different districts, 
and in the same district at different times. The difficulty lies in the 
other diseases with which the inflammatory fever is combined -some- 
times on<-, and sometime | another, assuming a prominent character; 
and while they all generally follow inflammatory f'-.v-r, yet some of 
them occasionally precede it. 

In some places, the first symptoms are those of quarter-ill. The 
cattle are seized first in one quarter, and then in the other. The skin 
puff-, up, and the 'Tackling noi-e is heard almost from the beginning. 
The di ",. e is usually fatal when it assumes this form. 

In others, where, from the rapidity with which it runs its course, it 
is called the speed, it also generally begins behind. Inflammation, or 
rather mortification, seizes one hock. It runs up the quarter, which 

becomes actually putrid in the course of an hour or two, while the 
other limbs continue sound. Few, especially young beasts, survive 
an attack of this kind. Here the active use of local applications is 
indicated ; and yet they will rarely be of much service. 

In other parts, under the name of the puck, the fore-quarter, or the 
side, is the. part mostly affected ; and the animal frequently dies in an 
hour or two. On skinning the beast, the whole quarter appears 
black from the extravasation of blood, and is softened and decom- 
posed, as though it were one universal bruise. 

HomaopathfiC treatment. — The principal remedy for the treatment 
of this fever is aeonitum, which should be repeated at interval-, o 



TYPHUS FEVER. 



much shorter, according as the disease is more severe; for instance, 
from every eight to fifteen minutes in very acute cases, and which 
must be continued until a perceptible calm be restored. In external 
inflammatory diseases, especially those which arise from a traumatic 
h-sion, aconilum is applicable not only to prevent the fever, but also to 
cure it when it is already developed, and has as yet made no progress. 
Notwithstanding the great efficacy of aconitum, it docs not suffice in 
many cased to effect a complete cure, so that, according to the indi- 
vidual nature of the inflammation, other diseases being connected, it 
becomes necessary to assist its action by that of other different means ; 
belladonna in encephalitis; apongia marina in angina; bryonia in 
pneumonia and peri-pneumonia; arsenicum and rhus toxicodendron in 
enteritis ; cantliarides in cystitis and nephritis, &c. 

J ViilCS FEVER. 

This is a species of fever with which every farmer is too well ac- 
quainted. It is of a low chronic, typhoid form. It sometimes fol- 
lows intense inflammatory action, and then it may be deemed the 
.second stage of that which lias just been considered ; but often, 
there have been no previous symptoms of peculiar intensity, at least 
none that have been observed, but a little increased heat of the ears, 
horns, and mouth ; a pulse of sixty or seventy ; a certain degree of 
dullness; a deficiency of appetite; an occasional suspension of rumi- 
nation ; a disinclination to move ; a gait approaching to staggering ; 
and a gradual wasting. These are plain indications that there is a 
fire burning, and rapidly consuming the strength of the animal. The 
vital energies are evidently undermining; but the fire w smothered. 
ft is not phthisi imption), it is not inflammatory fever, for the 

intense inflammation characterizing that is seldom seen — it is true 
typhus fever. 

As ' becomes established, diarrhoea succeeds ; and this is 

either produced by small doses of medicine from which no danger 
could be suspected, or cone on pontaneously. It is not, however, 
violent, but continues day after day. It bids defiance to the skill of 
the most experienced practitioner, or, if arrested for a while, is sure 
to return. The discharge is peculiarly fetid ; occasionally mixed 
with blood, and generally containing a considerable quantity of 
mucus. 

Three or four weeks have probably now elapsed, and then succeed 
the peculiar symptoms of low fever in cattle. Tumors form round 
the joints, or appear on the back or udder; ulcerate, spread, and be- 
come fetid. The sweet "breath of the ox is gone — it is as offensive 
as the ulcers, and, in fact, we have that which can scarcely be dis- 
tinguished from the second stage of inflammatory fever. 

It is most prevalent in the spring and fall of the year, and when 



234 CATTLE. 

the first has been ungenial and the latter wet. The pasture gene- 
rally possesses some degree of luxuriance, although its herbage m;iy 
be coarse, and the beast is usually in good condition when first at- 
tacked. 

This disease has sometimes been epidemic and fatal to a dreadful 
extent, occasionally assuming the form of, or being connected with, 
epidemic catarrh ; at other times accompanied by dysentery, but 
frequently being, for many a day, or for some weeks, typhoid fever 
without any local determination. 

The cause of typhoid fever is involved in much obscurity. It is 
most prevalent on cold, wet lands, and during cold, wet, variable 
weather. A long wet winter is sure to be followed by typhus fever 
in every low, marshy district. In the higher pastures, where the 
cattle seem exposed to greater cold, but have less wet, little of it is 
seen. 

It is much to be doubted whether it is infectious ; but if one, then 
all the cattle have been exposed to the same predisposing causes of 
disease. It is well to remove the infected beasts from the sound 
ones as soon as possible ; and the carcass of the animal that dies of 
inflammatory or typhoid fever should be buried without delay. 

These are cases which puzzle, and, when treated in the best way, 
they too frequently will not yield to medical skill. There is one rule, 
however, which cannot mislead. //* there be fire, it must be put out. 
No apparent debility should mislead here. That debility may, and 
often does, result from the presentee of fever, and not from any dan- 
gerous impairment of vital power ; and the incubus b'ing thrown 
off, nature will rally ; at all events, the debility is the consequence of 
the fever, and is daily and rapidly increasing while the fever con- 
tinues : therefore, first bleed, and bleed until the character of the 
pulse begins to change. It should never be forgotten that one bleed- 
ing of this kind will often do good, and cannot be injurious. It is 
the fear of bleeding lest the animal should be more debilitated, or 
the pushing on of the bleeding, in order to obtain a definite quantity, 
after the pulse has begun to falter, that has done all the mischief. 

If the heat, and heaving, and disinclination to food should have 
been relieved by this bleeding, but should threaten to return, more 
blood should be taken, but with the same caution as to the pulse. 

Physic must follow, but with caution ; for there is a natural ten- 
dency to diarrhoea connected with this disease, which is often trouble- 
some to subdue. One dose of Epsom salts should be given with the 
usual quantity of aromatic medicine, and its action secured and kept 
up by half-pound doses of sulphur, administered as circumstances 
may indicate. 

To this will follow the usual sedative medicine — digitalis, emetic 
tartar, and nitre. The practitioner must not be deluded here. While 
the mouth and horns are hot, and the pulse rapid, tonics would be 



THE VEINS. 235 



poison. He has to put out the fire, and not to feed it. When the 
fever is subdued, but nature finds some difficulty in rallying, we may 
give, gentian, Colombo, and ginger, with advantage. 

When the tumors and ulcerations appear, the second stage of in- 
flammatory fever is established, and the measures recommended for 
that must be adopted. This disorder attacks cattle of all ages. Full- 
o-rown beasts are more subject to typhoid than to inflammatory 
fever ; but among younger ones and weaning calves, and those of 
eight, nine, and ten months old, it is extremely fatal, for they have 
not strength to bear up against this secretly consuming fire. 

The mode of prevention, when it first breaks out, is to bleed and 
physic ; the grand thing of all, however, is to remove not merely to 
shorter, but to dryer pasture. With the youngsters, bleeding may, 
perhaps, be dispensed with ; but a dose of physic should be given, 
and a seton inserted in the dewlap ; and the change of pasture is 
indispensable. Low and damp situations do not agree with cattle ; 
and the inhabitants of low, marshy grounds have too often a sad ac- 
count to render of their cattle. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Bryonia, twice a day, is the remedy best 
suited to the entire course of the disease. Acidum muriaticum 
should be given when there is great debility and dryness of the 
mouth ; arnica, when the animal remains stretched without motion, 
and without consciousness ; stramonium and hyoscyamus, if partial 
convulsions are observed to take place ; arsenicum in watery diarrhoea ; 
china, argilla, and sulphur, when the food comes away undigested ; 
belladonna, in convulsions and wildness of look ; opium, when the 
animal is stretched out as if dead, with small pulse, hard fasces, or 
constipation ; veratrum, in diarrhoea with cold extremities. 

THE VEINS. 

The principal disease of the capillary vessels having thus been 
disposed of, the blood must be again traced back to the heart. 

By means of the various important functions which are discharged 
by the capillaries, the blood is essentially changed as it traverses 
them. It becomes black, venous, and no longer capable of sustain- 
ing life ; and it must be sent back to the heart, to be again rendered 
arterial. The capillaries in which the blood has undergone this 
change begin to unite, and when a sufficient number of them have 
joined their streams, that branch is called a vein. The coats of the 
vein are much weaker and thinner than those of the artery, and the 
blood flows through them by a different principle from that which 
produces the circulation either in the arteries or capillaries. 

All the veins of the limbs, or that are subject to the pressure of 
any of the muscles, have valves, which permit the blood to flow on 
towards the heart, but oppose an insuperable obstacle to its course 
in a contrary direction ; thus, by the pressure of the muscles, a con- 



236 CATTLE. 

siderable power is, occasionally at least, called into exercise to propel 
the blood along the veins. All the veins, however, are not under 
the influence of these muscles. The large veins of. the chest and 
belly are out of the reach of muscular pressure, and are destitute of 
this valvular apparatus, but they are acted upon by a more powerful 
principle. 

The heart has been described as an elastic muscle. It has scarcely 
closed by the stimulus of the organic nerves, when it expands 
again by its own inherent elasticity ; and that important principle, by 
the influence of which the water follows the sucker in the common 
pump — the pressure of the atmosphere — acts here, too, and the 
cavities of the heart are filled again as soon as they expand ; and 
this livino- pump would work on while there was fluid in circula- 
tion. Thus the circulation is maintained by the action of the heart, 
while the blood is passing through the arteries ; by the muscular 
power of the capillaries, while it permeates those little vessels ; and 
by the pressure of the muscles and the valvular apparatus of the 
veins, in some part of its course through them ; and by atmospheric 
pressure, through their whole extent. 

VARICOSE VEINS. 

Varicose tumors in the cow seldom appear, except in the veins of 
the udder, and in the neighborhood of joints that have suffered even 
more than usual from the tumors of these parts, to which cattle are 
so liable. An old cow that has been a superior milker, frequently 
has the veins of the teats permanently enlarged. No application will 
take down the swelling, which, however, is rarely of any serious in- 
convenience. The veins of the teats are sometimes much enlarged 
under Garget. Warm fomentations, in order to abate the general 
inflammation of the bag, will afford most relief. 

THE CHEST. 

The form of the chest is of much consequence in the ox. There 
are important offices to be performed by the viscera of the chest, 
which demand constant energetic action, over which the mind has 
no control, and where all depends on the form and extent of the 
thoracic cavity. The blood must be purified, and it must be circu- 
lated through the frame, and that with a rapidity and perfection 
which must not know a moment's intermission. 

The chest consists of 13 ribs on either side, or 26 in the whole. 
Of these 8 on each side are directly connected with the sternum, 
or breast bone, and are termed true ribs ; the other five are attached 
to cartilages, which are linked together, and also connected with the 
sternum in an indirect manner — these are termed false ribs. 

The true ribs are long, large, thick, and far apart from each other ; 



THE BREAST-BONE OF THE OX. 



237 



for, in consequence of the small number of short,, or false" ribs, they 
take a more backward direction, and cover a portion of the abdomen 
above, while the sternum supports it below. They are so formed 
as to render the cavity of the chest of a quite circular shape. 




THE BREAST-BONE OF THE OX. 

1. The body of the sternum, (so called from its resemblance to 
the stern of a ship,) or breast-bone. 

2. The cartilages by which the ribs are attached to the sternum. 

3. The ribs cut off. 

4. The xiphoid cartilage, (resembling a sword,) at the posterior 
part of the sternum, supporting the rumen. 

5. 5. The joints, with their capsular ligaments, uniting the carti- 
lages with the sternum. 

6. 6. Do., uniting the cartilages with the ribs. 



238 



CATTLE. 



7. The socke treceiving the movable bone at the point of the 
sternum. 

In the ox, as the above cut will show, the sternum is thin and flat. 
It presents a level surface of considerable width for the floor of the 
chest, and, therefore, insures a circular form for the chest. 

Breadth at the breast is an essential requisite in the ox. It is this 
conformation alone which will give sufficient surface for the attach- 
ment of muscles of the character of those of the ox, and will secure 
sufficient room for the lungs to purify, and the heart to circulate 
blood enough for the proper discharge of every function. The fol- 
lowing cut of the breast of a short-horn bull will afford a practical 
illustration of these observations. 




A SHORT-HORN BULL. 

The flatness of the breast-bone at the base of the chest of the 
ox secures a permanent sufficiency of capacity ; and a perfect joint 
between the ribs and the sternum is not only not wanted, but might 
interfere with the equable action of the respiratory apparatus in this 
animal. The union, however, between the rib and the sternum does 
admit of a considerable degree of motion, and would, to a great ex- 
tent, contribute to the enlargement of the chest, if rapid action, or 
accident, or disease, should require it. 

The sternum of the ox has a process projecting very considerably 



THE BRISKET. 239 



anteriorly, but not closing the entrance into the chest. That pro- 
cess, or first division of the sternum, has a joint. It admits of a cer- 
tain degree of lateral action only. It materially assists the walking 
or other action of the animal, and appears to be absolutely necessa- 
ry, when we consider the vast accumulation of flesh and fat about 
these parts ; and especially that singular collection of them, the 
brisket. 

The muscles which are most concerned in giving bulk to the 
breast are the transverse pectorals. They form the grand prominences 
in front of the chest, and extend from the anterior extremity of the 
sternum to the middle of the arm. 

The great pectoral (fig. 13, p. 209,) arising from the lateral 
and the posterior part of the sternum, may be considered more as a 
continuation of the muscles of the breast, extending laterally and 
backward. 

THE BRISKET. 

This is a singular portion of the breast of the ox, to which, very 
properly, much importance has been universally attached, although, 
perhaps, on false grounds. It has been considered as a part of 
the anterior wall of the chest, and as a proof of its depth and capaci- 
ty. This is altogether erroneous. It is a mere appendix to the 
chest. It is a projection of substance, partly muscular, but more 
cellular and fatty, from the anterior and movable division or head 
of the sternum, extending sometimes from 12 to 20 inches in front 
of it, and dipping downward nearly or quite as much. It is no 
proof of depth of chest. It is found of a great size in all the im- 
proved cattle, varying in size in different breeds, and in different cat- 
tle of the same breed ; and it was always looked for and valued in 
the better specimens of the old cattle. It is, at least, a proof of 
tendency to fatness. A beast that will accumulate so much flesh 
and fat about the brisket, will not be deficient in other points. 

It is very probable that this may be carried too far. An enor- 
mously projecting brisket may evince a more than usual tendency to 
fatten ; but not unfrequently a tendency to accumulate that fat irreg- 
ularly — to have it too much in patches, and not spread equally over 
the frame. Many examples of this must present themselves to the 
recollection of the grazier, and especially in some of the short- 
horn breed. In a very few instances it has been almost fancied that 
this enormously projecting brisket was a defect, rather than an ex- 
cellence ; at least, that it somewhat impaired the uniform beauty of 
the animal, if it did not diminish his sterling excellence. 

The brisket should be prominent as well as deep ; perhaps on one 
account more prominent than deep, for it will then be more likely, 
either before or by the time it arrives at the posterior border of the 
elbow or fore-arm, to have subsided to the thickness of the fatty and 



240 CATTLE. 

other substance naturally covering the sternum. One defect, but 
not of half the consequence which it is generally supposed to be, 
would then be avoided — the apparent diminution of the chest at its 
bottom under the body at the girthing place, or immediately be- 
hind the elbows under the body. Some have evidently considered 
this to be an actual elevation of the floor of the chest, and a conse- 
quent lessening of its capacity at this point ; and, on that account, a 
most serious defect. There are few things which the breeders of 
short-horns have labored more zealously, and generally more unsuc- 
cessfully, to remedy. It is certainly a defect, because it evinces a 
disposition to accumulate fat in a somewhat patchy manner ; but it 
is not so bad as has been represented or feared. It indicates no ele- 
vation of the sternum — no diminution of the capacity of the chest : 
it is a rather too sudden termination of protuberance of the brisket, 
either from the accumulation of the principal part of its substance 
too forward, or from a want of disposition in the beast to fatten in 
an equable way. If the brisket were removed, the bicast-bond 
would be found to be gradually rounding, and rising from this spot, 
and not let down lower between the elbows. It will be interesting 
to compare, the different forms of the brisket in the different breeds 
of cattle. The bulls on pp. 96 and 238 will show how much varie- 
ty can exist in different animals of the same breed*.; and those who 
recollect the portrait of Mr. C. Colling's Comet, to whose brisket 
few, perhaps, could at first reconcile themselves so far as beauty or 
form was concerned, will be aware of greater variety still.* 

When the observer now admires or wonders at the protuberant and 
unwieldy briskets of these cattle, he will recognize the use of the 
joint in the first, or supplementary, bone of the sternum of oxen. 
They could not walk with ease, and it would be scarcely possible for 
them to turn at all, if it were not for the lateral motion which this 
joint permits. The muscles most concerned in this action, and, indeed, 
that constitute the bulk of the fleshy part of the brisket, are the 
anterior portions of the external and internal sternocostal muscles, 
(those which are concerned with the sternum and the ribs,) and whose 
action is to elevate the ribs, and so dilate the chest, and assist in 
breathing. 

THE RIBS. 

The first rib on either side is a short, rather straight, and particu- 

* It is to be observed that the views here expressed about short-horn briskets are 
those of the breeders of rival races. All short-horn breeders hold it an important 

Soint to have the brisket project in front, and drop as low and be as wide between the 
)gs, as possible. As short-horns are more and more spread over England, this their 
wonderful peculiarity is more and more admired ; and the breeders of other races are 
imitating it, as far as attainable in their breeds, and in one, the Herefords, it is, in 
some high bred stocks, well advanced. It will suffice to say that short-horn breeders 
do not admit that a large brisket indicates a tendency to fat unevenly ; but the contra- 
ry, and deem it an evidence of superior feeding capacity of an even kind.— Am. Ed. 



THE SPINE. 241 

larly strong bone. It has much of the head and neck to support ; 
and it is the fulcrum or fixed point on which all the other bones are 
to move. Eacli rib is united to the spine by great strength of attach- 
ment. They spring from the spine in a quite horizontal direction ; 
and consequently, there is a provision for the capacity of the chest 
above as well as below. They are large, for the attachment of much 
muscle ; they spring out at once laterally, in order to secure that 
permanent capacity of chest which the functions of the ox require. 

In some breeds a little flat-sidedness (the less the better) may be 
forgiven, because the width of the sternum below, and of the spine, 
in some degree, but more particularly the springing out of the ribs 
above, secure a sufficient capacity of chest. It is on this account that 
the Devon ox is active and profitable while at work, and afterward 
grazes kindly. The conformation of the bones just described gives 
him a considerable capacity of chest, notwithstanding his somewhat 
too flat sides : yet in the animal which was chiefly valued for his 
grazing properties, something more would be looked for, and would 
be found. 

The shoulder being past, this horizontal projection of the ribs is 
more and more evident ; and, in order that the barrel-form shall be 
as complete as can be, each rib is twisted. Its posterior edges are 
turned upward and outward ; and as, proceeding backward, each 
projects beyond the preceding one, not only until the eighth true rib 
is passed, but also the five false ones, the carcass of a well-made, 
profitable beast increases in width and in capacity, until we arrive at, 
or nearly at, the loins. For illustration of this, reference may be 
made to the cuts of the Kyloe, Galloway, New Leicester, or Short- 
horn cattle. 

In point of fact, however, the thorax is now passed, and the abdo- 
men presents itself; but the principle is the same : the ribs are spread 
out, not only to afford room in the thorax for lungs considerably 
larger than those of the horse, but for that immense macerating 
stomach, the rumen, wich fills the greater part of the abdomen, and 
which must be preserved as much as possible from injury and 
pressure. 

THE SPINE. 

The spine of the ox has great size of the individual bones, a small 
quantity of elastic ligamentous substance interposed between them, 
and great length and roughness of all the processes. Two objects 
are accomplished — sufficient strength is obtained for the protection of 
the parts beneath, and for the purposes for which the animal may be 
required, and as much roughened surface as possible for the insertion 
of muscles. As the joints are few, some provision seems to be made 
for this, by their being complicated. 
11 



242 CATTLE. 

The spinous processes of the anterior hones of the back, constituting 
the withers, are strong but short. While a very slight curve should 
mark the situation of the withers, the irregularity of the processes of 
the bones should never be visible. The less the curve the better, 
and no decided hollow behind should point out the place where the 
withers terminate, and the more level surface of the back commences ; 
as this is a departure from good conformation, for which nothing can 
compensate. It not only takes away so much substance from the 
spot on which good flesh and fat should be thickly laid on, but it 
generally shows an indisposition to accumulate flesh and fat in the 
right places. 

THE LARYNX. 

At the posterior part of the pharynx, and at the top of the wind- 
pipe, we find a curiously constructed cartilaginous box, called the 
larynx. It is the guard of the lungs, lest particles of food, or any 
injurious substance, should penetrate into the air-passages, and it is at 
the same time the instrument of voice. (See cut, p. 196.) Every 
portion of food, whether swallowed or returned for the purpose of 
re-mastication, passes over it ; and it would be scarcely possible to 
avoid frequent inconvenience, and danger of suffocation, were it not 
for a lid or covering to the entrance of this box, termed the epiglottis, 
(fig. 5,) which yields to the pressure of the food passing over it, and 
lies flat on the entrance into the windpipe, and, being of a cartila- 
ginous structure, rises again by its inherent elasticity as soon as the 
pellet has been forced along, and permits the animal to breathe again. 
The whole of the larynx is composed of separate cartilages, to which 
muscles are attached, that regulate the size of the opening into the 
windpipe, as the voice or alteration in breathing from exertion or 
disease, may require. Fig. 1 1 gives a view of the rimce glottidis, or 
edge of the glottis, or opening into the windpipe. It is small, 
because little speed is required in the labor of the ox, and there is 
rarely any hurried or distressed breathing. 

But although the opening into the windpipe is small, there is 
danger of substances getting into it, for all the food passes thrice 
over it ; and at its first passage is formed into a very loose and 
imperfect pellet. Provision is made for this ; the epiglottis of the ox 
is broad : it more than covers the opening into the windpipe. The 
breathing is seldom hurried, and the food passes often over the 
opening, and therefore the epiglottis is broad and rounded, (fig. 5, 
p. 196,) and overlapping on either side, and at the angle of 
the opening ; the cartilage of which it is composed is thin, its rounded 
extremity is curled — turned back. — so as to yield and be pressed down, 
and give an uninterrupted passage, and securely cover the opening 
when the food is returned ; while also, from its thinness, it yields in 



TRACHEOTOMY. 243 



another way, and uncurls and covers the opening when the food is 
swallowed. 

The arytaenoid cartilages (fig. 6) are small in the ox : the thyroid 
cartilages (fig. 7) are large. The interior of the larynx of the ox — 
the organ of voice — is more simple than in any other domesticated 
animal. There is neither membrane across the opening, nor are there 
any duplicatures of membrane resembling sacs within the larynx ; in 
fact, his voice is the least capable of modulation of any of our quad- 
ruped servants. 

THE WINDPIPE. 

The trachea, or windpipe, of cattle is small, because much air is 
not wanted. The ox is not a beast of speed, and he rarely goes 
beyond the walk or trot. The cartilaginous rings are narrow (fig. 9, 
cut, p. 196), and thick. The interposed ligamentous substance is 
weak (fig. 10, p. 196). A tube of loose construction is suffi- 
cient for the portion of air which the ox needs in respiration ; and 
gathering usually the whole of his food from the ground, and gather- 
ing it slowly, and being longer occupied about it, more freedom of 
motion, and a greater degree of extension, are requisite. 

In addition to this, there is no. careful and intricate overlapping of 
the cartilages behind ; they are simply brought into approximation 
with each other ; and their opposing edges project behind so that 
they are very loosely bound to the cervical vertebrae. There is no 
transverse muscle, because the caliber of the tube can seldom or 
never be much varied, but, by way of compensation, the lining mem- 
brane of the trachea is dense, extensible, and elastic, and capable of 
discharging, although imperfectly, a function similar to that of the 
transverse muscle. At the lower part of the windpipe, the triangular 
prolongation of cartilage for the defence of the tube in the immediate 
neighborhood of the lungs is small. The rings of the windpipe of 
the ox are about 60. 

TRACHEOTOMY. 

Although there are few diseases of cattle in which the animal is 
threatened with suffocation, yet occasionally in blain, in inflammation 
of the parotid gland, and in those varieties of fever which in the ox 
are so much characterized by the formation of tumors, there will be 
pressure on the windpipe, much contracting its caliber, and rendering 
the act of respiration laborious, and almost impracticable. In inflam- 
mation of the larynx, to which cattle are much exposed, the distress- 
ing labor of breathing is scarcely credible. 

Tracheotomy, or the formation of an artificial opening into the 
windpipe, is an operation very easily and safely performed. The 



244 CATTLE. 

beast should- be secured, and the hair cut closely from the throat, 
over the windpipe, and opposite to the fifth or sixth ring. The skin 
is then tightened by the finger and thumb, and an incision is made 
through it, at least three inches in length. This must be carefully 
dissected off from the parts beneath, and then a portion of the wind- 
pipe, half an inch wide, and an inch in length, carefully cut out. 
The lips of the wound should be kept open by threads passed through 
the edges and tied over the neck, until the pressure or inflammation 
above no longer exists, and then they may be brought together and 
the wound healed. 

It is wonderful what instantaneous and perfect relief this operation 
affords. The beast that was struggling for breath, and seemed every 
moment ready to expire, is in a moment himself. 

In cases of permanent obstruction, as tumor in the nostrils, or dis- 
tortion of the larynx or trachea, the animal will generally be consigned 
to the butcher ; but instances may occur in which it is desirable to 
preserve the beast for the sake of breeding, or for other purposes. 
Then a tube may be introduced into the opening, two or three inches 
long, curved at the top, and the external orifice turning downward, 
with a little ring on each side, by which, through the means of tapes, 
it may be retained in its situation. A favorite cow or bull might be 
thus preserved, but extraordinary cases alone would justify such a 
proceeding. 

THE THYMUS GLAND, OR SWEETBREAD. 

There is an irregular glandular body, of a pale pink color, situated 
in the very fore part of the thorax, vulgarly called the sweetbread. 
In the early period of the life of the fetus, it is of no considerable 
size, and is confined mostly to the chest ; but during the latter 
months it strangely develops itself. It protrudes from the thorax ; 
it climbs up on each side of the neck, between the carotids and the 
trachea, and reaches even to the parotid gland, and becomes a part 
of that gland. It cannot be separated from the parotid ; and when 
cut into, a milky fluid exudes from it. 

Very soon after birth, however, a singular change takes place ; it 
spontaneously separates from the parotid ; it gradually disappears, 
beginning from above downward ; and in the course of a few months 
not a vestige of it remains along the whole of the neck. It then 
more slowly diminishes within the chest ; but at length it disappears 
there too, and its situation is occupied by the thoracic duct. 

It is evidently connected with the existence of the animal previous 
to birth, and more particularly with the latter stages of foetal life. 
It seems to be part of the nutritive system. It pours a bland and 
milky fluid through the parotid duct into the mouth, and so into the 
stomach, in order to habituate the stomach by degrees to the digest- 



THE ALTERATION OF THE BLOOD. 215 

ive process, and to prepare it for that function on which the life of 
the animal is to depend; and also to prepare the intestines for the 
discharge of their duty. When, after birth, it begins to be separated 
from the parotid gland, it has no means of pouring its secretion into 
the stomach, and it gradually dwindles away, and disappears. 

THE BRONCHIA 1 ! TUBES. 

The windpipe pursues its course down the neck, until it arrives at 
the chest. It there somewhat alters its form, and becomes deeper 
and narrower, in order to suit itself to the triangular opening through 
which it is to pass. It enters the chest, and preserves the same 
cartilaginous structure until it arrives at the base of the heart, where 
it separates into two tubes, corresponding with the two divisions of 
the lungs. These are called the bronchial tubes. They plunge 
deep into the substance of the lungs ; these presently subdivide ; and 
the subdivision is continued in every direction, until branches of the 
trachea penetrate every portion of the lungs. These are still air- 
passages, and they are carrying on the air to its destination, for the 
accomplishment of a vital purpose. The lungs of the ox afford the 
most satisfactory elucidation of the manner in which these air-tubes 
traverse that viscus. They can be followed until they almost elude 
the unassisted sight, but the greater part of them can be evidently 
traced into the lobuli, or little divisions of the substance of the lung, 
which are so evident here. The minute structure of these lobuli has 
never been demonstrated ; but we may safely imagine them to con- 
sist of very small cells, in which the bronchial tubes terminate, and to 
which the air is conveyed ; and that these cells are divided from 
each other by exceedingly delicate membranes. 

THE ALTERATION OF THE BLOOD. 

The blood has already been described as sent from the right ven- 
tricle of the heart into the lung, and the blood-vessels dividing and 
subdividing until they have attained a state of extreme minuteness, 
and then ramifying over the delicate membrane of these cells. The 
blood, however, is in a venous state ; it is no longer capable of sup- 
porting life ; and it is forced through the lungs, in order that it 
may be rendered once more arterial, and capable of supporting life 
and all its functions. For this purpose, these minute veins spread 
over the delicate membrane of the cells, and for this purpose also, the 
air has been conveyed to these cells by the bronchial tubes. 

Now, the chemical, it may almost be said the vital, difference be- 
tween venous and arterial blood is, that the venous is loaded with 
carbon, and deficient in oxygen. It here comes, if not in absolute 
contact with atmospheric air, yet so close as to be separated only 
by a gossamer membrane, which offers little obstacle to the power of 



246 CATTLE 

chemical affinity or attraction ; and the carbon which it contains is 
attracted by the oxygen which abounds in the atmospheric air, and 
is taken out of the circulation, and passes off in breathing. Carbonic 
acid gas, or fixed air, is formed by the union of the oxygen and the 
carbon, the presence of which in undue quantities renders the air 
destructive to life. The other constituents of the blood have also an 
affinity for oxygen, and more of that gas is taken from the atmos- 
pheric air, and passes through the membrane of the air-cells, and 
mingles with the blood. 

The change, then, from venous to arterial blood consists in the car- 
bon being taken away, and oxygen imbibed ; and this is effected by 
the blood being brought so nearly into contact with atmospheric air, 
of which oxygen is a constituent part, and which has a greater 
affinity for carbon, and other principles in the blood, than it has for 
the gases with which it was combined in the constitution of atmos- 
pheric air. 

The capillary vessels, now carrying arterial instead of venous blood, 
unite and form larger and yet larger vessels, until the united stream 
is poured into the right cavity of the heart, thence to be propelled 
through the frame. This subject has been treated at somewhat 
greater length, because the lungs of the ox afford the best illustration 
of the division of the bronchial tubes, and the separation of the sub- 
stance of the lungs into distinct lobuli, or little lobes, in which the 
bronchial tubes terminate, and the air-cells are developed. 

CATARRH, OR HOOSE. 

Anatomical detail may now, for a considerable time, be laid aside, 
and inquiry be made into the diseases of the respiratory organs. 
Those only of the first of the air- passages, that of the nose, have as 
yet been considered ; however, inflammation spreads beyond the 
lining membrane of the nasal cavities, and involves the fauces, the 
glands of the throat, and the upper air-passages generally ; it is then 
no longer coryza, but is catarrh, or better known by the term hoose. 
This is a disease too little regarded in cattle, but the forerunner of 
the most frequent and fatal diseases to which they are subject. 

It is often hard to say whence catarrh, or common cold, arises. 
The slightest change of management or of temperature will some- 
times produce it. In the beginning of spring, and towards the latter 
part of autumn, it is particularly prevalent. Young beasts, and cows 
after calving, are very subject to it. In a great many cases, how- 
ever, it is the result of mismanagement. When cattle are crowded 
together, they are seldom without hoose. If the cow-house be heated 
considerably above the temperature of the external air, it is sure 
to be there. Many a sad cold is caught at the straw-yard, and 
particularly by young cattle : the food is not sufficient to afford 



CATARRH, OR HOOSE. 247 



proper nourishment, or to keep up proper warmth ; and the more 
forward drive the others about, and permit them to obtain onlv 
a small portion of their proper share of the provender, and then 
the depressing effects of cold, and wet, and hunger, so debilitate 
these poor beasts, that they are seldom without catarrh — and that 
catarrh too frequently runs on to a more serious disease. 

Some breeds are more subject to hoose than others. The na- 
tives of a southern district are seldom naturalized in a colder 
clime without several times passing through severe catarrh ; and, 
where the system of breeding in and in has been carried to too 
great an extent, and been pursued in defiance of many a warn- 
ing, hoose, perpetually occurring, difficult to remove, and degene- 
rating into confirmed phthisis, will painfully, but somewhat too 
late, convince the farmer of his mistake. 

The principal error, however, of the agriculturist is, not that he 
suffers the causes of hoose to exist, or always gives them exist- 
ence, but that he underrates the mischievous and fatal character of 
the disease. To this point we shall refer again and again ; and if 
we can but induce him to listen to the dictates of •humanity and of 
interest, the present treatise may rank among those which have dif- 
fused some useful knowledge. 

There is no disease of a chronic nature by which cattle are so se- 
riously injured, or which is eventually so fatal to them, as hoose ; 
yet very few of those whose interest is at stake, pay the slightest 
attention to it. The cow may cough on from week to week, and no 
one takes notice of it until the quantity of milk is seriously decreas- 
ing, or she is rapidly losing flesh, and then medical treatment is 
generally unavailing. The disease has now reached the chest ; the 
lungs are seriously affected ; and the foundation is laid for confirmed 
consumption. 

It is far from the wish of the author to inculcate a system of over- 
nursing. He knows full well that those cattle are most healthy 
that are exposed to the usual changes of the weather, yet somewhat 
sheltered from its greatest inclemency. He would not consider 
every cow that hooses as a sick animal, and shut her up in some 
close place, and physic and drench her, but would endeavor to pre- 
vail on the farmer to be a great deal more on the look-out. The 
herdsman should be aware of every beast that coughs. It may be 
only a slight cold, and in a few days may disappear of itself. He 
may wait and see whether it will, unless there be some urgent symp- 
toms; but, these few days having passed, and the cow continuing to 
hoose, it begins to be imperatively necessary for him to adopt the 
proper measures, while they may be serviceable. 

If she feed as well as ever, if moisture stand upon her muzzle, and 
her flanks are perfectly quiet, then one or two nights' housing, and 
a mash or two, or a dose of physic, may set all right. But if the 



248 CATTLE. 

muzzle be a little dry, and the root of the horn hot, and she heaves 
(although not much) at the flanks, and the coat is not so sleek as 
usual, and she is a little off her feed, let her be bled. Experience 
will teach the farmer that these chest affections, in cattle, often and 
speedily assume a highly inflammable character, and that they must 
be conquered at the first, or not at all. 

To bleeding should succeed a dose of Epsom salts, with half an 
ounce of ginger in it, to prevent griping and to promote perspiration, 
and to excite the rumen to action ; but no hot, stimulating drinks. 
To this should be added warmth, warm mashes, warm drinks, warm 
gruels, and a warm but well ventilated cow-house. 

Cough and Fever Drink. — Take emetic tartar, one drachm ; pow- 
dered digitalis, half a drachm ; and nitre, three drachms. Mix, and 
give in a quart of tolerably thick gruel. 

Purging Drink. — Take Epsom salts, one pound ; powdered cara- 
way-seeds, half an ounce. Dissolve in a quart of warm gruel, and 
give. 

It will be proper to house the beast, and especially at night ; and 
a mash of scalded bran with a few oats in it, if there be no fever, 
should be allowed. It is necessary carefully to watch the animals 
that are laboring under this complaint ; and, if the heaving should 
continue, or the muzzle again become or continue dry, and the 
breath hot, more blood should be taken away, and the purging drink 
repeated. At the close of the epidemic catarrh, the animal will, 
sometimes be left weak and with little appetite. It should be well 
ascertained whether the fever has quite left the beast, because list- 
lessness and disinclination to move, and loss of appetite, and slight 
staggering, may result as much from the continuance of fever as 
from the debility which it leaves behind. If the muzzle be cool and 
moist, and the mouth not hot, and the pulse sunk to nearly its natu- 
ral standard, or rather below it, and weak and low, the following 
drink may be ventured on : 

Take emetic tartar, half a drachm ; nitre, two drachms ; powdered 
gentian root, one drachm ; powdered chamomile flowers, one drachm ; 
and powdered ginger, half a drachm. Pour upon them a pint of 
boiling ale, and give the infusion when nearly cold. 

When the beast begins to recover, he should not be exposed in 
any bleak situation, or to much rough weather. 

In some years this epidemic disease destroys a great many cattle. 
In the winter of 1830, and in the spring of 1831, thousands of 
young cattle perished in every part of the country. Some of them 
were carefully examined after death, and the membrane lining the 
windpipe was found to be inflamed, and the inflammation extending 
down to and involving all the small passages leading to the air-cells 
of the lungs, and the passages filled with worms. 

There are some substances which are immediately destructive to 



COUGH. 249 

worms when brought into contact with them. Some of these medi- 
caments may be taken into the circulation of the animal with perfect 
safety to him, and probably death to the worms. Among those 
which most readily enter into the circulation after being swallowed, is 
the oil or spirit of turpentine. The breath is very soon afterwards 
tainted with its smell, which shows that a portion of it has passed 
into the lungs. Therefore, when other means have failed, and the 
continuance of the violent cough renders it extremely probable that 
worms are in the air -passages, the following prescription may be re- 
sorted to : 

Turpentine Drink for Worms. — Take oil of turpentine, two ounces ; 
sweet spirit of nitre, one ounce ; laudanum, half an ounce ; linseed 
oil, four ounces. Mix, and give in a pint of gruel. 

This may be repeated every morning without the slightest danger ; 
and even when we are a little afraid to give it longer by the mouth, 
it may be thrown up in the form of an injection. A pint of lime 
Avater every morning, and two table-spoonfulls of salt every after- 
noon, have also been administered with advantage when worms are 
present in the windpipe. 

Should the case appear to be obstinate, the exhibition of half 
doses of physic every second or third day will often be useful, with 
the following drink, morning and night, on each of the intermediate 
days : — 

Take digitalis, one scruple ; emetic tartar, half a drachm ; nitre, 
three drachms ; powdered squills, one drachm ; opium, one scruple. 
Mix, and give with a pint of gruel. 

A seton in the dewlap should never be omitted ; and if the disease 
seems to be degenerating into inflammation of the lungs, the treat- 
ment must be correspondingly active. 

The termination of hoose that is most to be feared is consumption. 
That will be indicated when the discharge from the nose becomes 
purulent, or bloody, and the breath stinking, and the cough con- 
tinues to be violent, while the beast feeds badly, and the eyes begin 
to appear sunk in the head, and he rapidly loses flesh. The best 
remedy here, so far as both the owner and the animal are concerned, 
is the pole-axe of the butcher ; for in the early part of the disease 
the meat is not at all injured, and may be honestly sold. If, how- 
ever, it is wished that an attempt should be made to save the animal, 
the cough and fever drink may be given daily ; more attention should 
be paid to the warmth and comfort of the beast ; and, if the weather 
be favorable, it should, after a while, be turned out, either entirely, or 
during the day. Care, however, must be taken to protect the animal 
from all storms ; and if it be summer, green food should be given in 
the stable. 

Homoeopathic Treatment. — A cough, at first dull and hollow, 
excited by the least effort, and more particularly violent after the 
11* 



250 CATTLE. 

animal has drunk, generally indicates a more or less serious affection 
of the lung. If a severe cough attack the animal, great attention 
must be paid to it, because in such cases we frequently have to treat 
commencing hydrothorax. The means to be adopted when no other 
symptoms of disease are observed, are : dulcamara, in cough by 
cold ; bryonia (in repeated doses,) in inveterate cough ; belladonna 
and drosera, in chronic cough ; hyoscyamus, when the attacks are 
very frequent ; squilla, in cough which comes on after fatigue, and 
which interferes with the respiration ; chamomilla, in dry cough, with 
diarrhoea ; pulsatilla, in frequent attacks of dry cough, with loss of 
appetite ; spiritus sulphuratus, in very obstinate cough. When the 
cough is the symptom of another disease, it yields to the treatment 
required by the latter. 

When the entire system has suffered more or less, the affection is 
accompanied with fever of greater or less severity ; some doses of 
aconitum, the first remedy to be employed in such cases, never fail 
to produce excellent effects. If the cold affect but a part of the 
body, we scarcely ever observe any fever, and bryonia is to be ad- 
ministered. In many cases considerable benefit has been obtained 
from dulcamara, nux vomica, and rhus toxicodendron. Arsenicum is 
good when the digestion is disturbed, or the complaint has been oc- 
casioned by a cold drink. 

EPIDEMIC CATARRH. 

Catarrh occasionally assumes an epidemic form ; it spreads over 
whole districts ; is more than usually violent ; associates with itself 
the symptoms of other and of worse diseases, and is strangely fatal. 
If a cold yet variable spring succeeds to a wet and mild winter, 
there will be scarcely a dairy or a straw-yard in some districts in 
which a considerable number of cows will not labor under distressing 
hoose. Obstinate costiveness attends the early stage of this disease, 
on which neither Epsom salts, nor common salt, nor linseed oil, can 
make any impression. All seems to go into the rumen, and has for 
a while no power on the cuticular coat of that stomach ; and then, 
whether the purgative course be pursued or suspended, diarrhoea 
suddenly comes on, and bids equal defiance to all astringent medi- 
cines. Sometimes, however, diarrhoea is present, and obstinate from 
the very beginning. 

Tumors about the head, the roots of the ears, the neck, the back, 
and loins, and many of the joints, soon succeed, accompanied by a 
singular crackling sound when pressed upon. There is decomposi- 
tion going on everywhere, and in the cellular texture among the 
rest, accompanied by the extrication of gas, the passage of which 
among the cells beneath the skin is the cause of this crackling. 

While these tumors indicate decomposition in one part, the ap- 
pearance and odor of the feeces show that it is not inactive in the 



EPIDEMIC CATARRH. 251 



intestinal canal. The discharge is offensive to a high degree, the 
breath loses its peculiar and beautiful scent, and the vital powers are 
rapidly exhausted. 

In most of these epidemics, the first attack seems to be made on 
the powers of organic life, and soon afterwards the animal system 
shares in the deleterious influence. The beast is unwilling to move ; 
it scarcely can move ; it staggers as it walks. It loses flesh every 
day ; the coat stares, and clings to the bones ; the appetite is quite 
gone; a fetid discharge commences from the mouth and nostrils, 
and death soon follows. 

The treatment of this disease in its early stage, and when alone it 
can be treated with reasonable hope of success, may be character- 
ized under two words — promptitude and vigor. The state of inflam- 
matory fever which accompanies the early period of the disease is in- 
tense ; and unless arrested, it will (as we have seen in treating of that 
disease) speedily exhaust every vital power; therefore, fever existing, 
bleeding is imperative. The quantity of blood to be abstracted will 
be regulated by the intensity of the inflammation, the apparent ap- 
proach or commencement of debility, and the effect produced while 
the blood continues to flow. All of these circumstances should be 
most carefully attended to. If the fever rages, the ox will bear to 
lose much blood, and uniformly with manifest advantage, If the state 
of debility is evidently approaching, or has even commenced, bleed- 
ing, regulated by the pulse, and stopped the moment that that fal- 
ters, will generally be beneficial : but debility being established, or 
the bleeding carried on after the pulse has forbidden it, the abstrac- 
tion of blood will only hasten death. 

Aperients should undoubtedly be administered, accompanied or 
not by aromatics, or the proportion of the aromatic regulated by 
the preponderance of fever or debility. The sulphate of magnesia 
will be preferred ; and early recourse should be had to the stomach- 
pump, in the manner which has been already described, should the 
physic seem to accumulate in the paunch. 

The other medicines will also be regulated by the symptoms. 
While fever continues, digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre will be indi- 
cated. When the febrile stage is passed, spirit of nitrous ether, 
laudanum, gentian, and ginger will be indicated. The cow-house 
should be warm, yet well ventilated. Mashes should be given, and 
green meat of every kind, and this changed daily, if necessary, in 
order to humor the capricious appetite of the patient. The strength 
being a little renovated, the beast may be turned into some 
pasture, close at hand, for a few hours during the middle of the 
day. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The principal means to be employed in 
such cases, as well as in the case of cough in general, are : dulca- 
mara and bryonia, in the cough which has succeeded to a cold ; nux 



252 CATTLE. 

vomica, in the dry and loud cough ; aconitum and arscnicum, in that 
which comes on every time the animal drinks cold water ; drosera, 
in that which has already become chronic ; pulsatilla and hyoscya- 
mus, in that which is dry and returns in kinks ; chamomilla, in dry 
cough with diarrhoea ; ammonium muriaticum, cuprum, and bryonia, 
in inveterate cough ; and, in general, sulphur, in many cases of dis- 
tressing and more especially obstinate coughs. 

THE MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC MURRAIN 1 . 

Epidemic catarrh often assumes a malignant form in cattle, on ac- 
count of the great vascularity of the system, and intensity of febrile 
action, and consequent vital exhaustion. It also appears as a dis- 
ease which is malignant from its very commencement. Indeed there 
is no disease so malignant as the murrain of cattle, and there are 
few years in which it is not now seen in some part of the kingdom. 
It is ranked under the diseases of the respiratory system, because 
that system is usually first of all affected, and for a longer or shorter 
time alone affected ; but the disease gradually takes on a typhoid 
character, and its pestilential influence invades every portion of the 
frame. It principally appears in marshy and woody districts, or 
where under-draining has been neglected, or the cattle have been ex- 
posed and half-starved. 

There are few diseases that assume, in its earlier or later stages, 
a greater variety of forms ; but, disarmed somewhat of its virulence, 
or at least having not appeared in all its terrors for some years past, 
it will generally be distinguished by some or the greater part of the 
following symptoms. 

There will be cough, frequent and painful, and, in many cases, 
for a week or more before there is any other marked symptom. The 
farmer may not always be aware of this, but he will find it out if 
he inquires about it ; and he will be fully aware of the importance 
of the fact before we have done with this division of our subject. 

After a few days, some heaving of the flanks will be added to the 
cough ; the pulse will be small, hard, frequent, and sometimes ir- 
regular ; the mouth hot ; the root of the horn cold ; the faeces some- 
times hard and black, at others liquid and black, and then very fetid. 
Presently afterwards, that of which we have to speak again and 
again, is observed — extreme tenderness along the spine, and partic- 
ularly over the loins. 

The cough becomes more frequent and convulsive, and a brown 
or bloody matter runs from the nostrils and mouth ; the eyes are 
swelled and weeping ; the patient grinds his teeth ; there is frequent 
spasmodic contraction about the nostrils ; and the animal rarely 
lies down, or, if he does, rises again immediately. 

The eyes soon afterwards become unusually dull ; the pulse re- 
mains small, but it has become feeble ; the respiration is quicker ; 



THE MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC— MURRAIN. 253 

the flanks are tucked up ; the tenderness on the loins is removed ; 
insensibility is stealing over the frame ; and the feeces are more 
loaded with mucus, and more fetid. The patient moans and lows, 
and grinds his teeth almost incessantly ; the head is agitated by a 
convulsive motion ; blood begins to mingle with the faeces ; the 
breath, and even the perspiration, becomes offensive ; and the beast 
staggers as he walks. 

Tumors and boils now, or often earlier, appear on various parts. 
If they are to come forward, the sooner they rise the better, for 
much depends on what becomes of them. If the animal has suffi- 
cient strength for them to go through the usual process of suppura- 
tion, although the sloughing and the stench may be greater than 
could be thought possible, the beast will have a chance to recover ; 
but if there is not energy to bring them forward — if they become 
stationary — and most assuredly, if they recede and disappear, the 
patient will die. 

The treatment of this disease is most unsatisfactory. If the farmer 
could be brought to attend more to this cough in cattle — if, here, 
he had recognized the violent and increasing cough, and, although 
he had not dreamed of murrain, had bled and physicked the beast 
on account of the cough, the disease w r ould probably have been ar- 
rested, or at least its virulence would have abated. 

The early stage of murrain is one of fever, and the treatment 
should correspond with this — bleeding. Physic should be cautiously 
yet not timorously resorted to. For sedative medicines there will 
rarely be room, except the cough should continue. Small doses of 
purgative medicine, with more of the aromatic than we generally 
add, will be serviceable, effecting the present purpose, and not has- 
tening or increasing the debility which generally is at hand ; but if 
the bowels be sufficiently open, or diarrhoea should threaten, and 
yet symptoms of fever should be apparent, no purgative must be giv- 
en, but the sedatives should be mingled with some vegetable tonic. 
The peculiar fetid diarrhoea must be met with astringents, mingled 
also with vegetable tonics. In combating the pustular and slough- 
ing gangrenous stage, the chloride of lime will be the best external 
application ; while a little of it administered with the other medi- 
cines inwardly may possibly lessen the tendency to general decom- 
position. The external application of it should not be confined to 
the ulcerated parts alone, but it should be plentifully sprinkled over 
and about the beast ; and the infected animal should be immediately 
removed from the sound ones. 

Drink for Murrain. — Take sweet spirit of nitre, half an ounce ; 
laudanum, half an ounce ; choride of lime, in powder, two ounces ; 
prepared chalk, an ounce. Rub them well together, and give them 
with a pint of warm gruel. 

This may be repeated every six hours, until the purging is consi- 



254 CATTLE. 

derably abated ; but should not be continued until it has quite stopped. 
The purging being abated, we must look about for something to 
recall the appetite and recruit the strength. 

Tonic Drink for Murrain. — Take Colombo root, two drachms ; 
canella bark, two drachms ; ginger, one drachm ; sweet spirit of nitre, 
half an ounce. Rub them together, and give in a pint of thick gruel. 

There cannot be a more proper means adopted than a seton in the 
dewlap, made with the black hellebore root. The mouth should be 
frequently washed with a dilute solution of the chloride of lime. The 
ulcerated parts, if they are fetid, should have the same disinfectant 
applied to them, and the walls and ceiling, and every part of the 
cow-house, should be washed with it. 

One caution should be used with respect to the food ; while the 
beast should be coaxed to eat, in order to support him under the 
debilitating influence of the disease, it is only on the supposition that 
he ruminates his food. Until he begins again to chew the cud, we 
are only injuriously overloading the paunch by enticing the animal to 
eat. Until rumination is re-established, the food should consist of 
gruel, or any other nutritive fluid, and should be so administered that 
the greater part of it may pass on into the fourth stomach, without 
entering the first. "When the animal appears to be recovering, he 
should be gradually exposed to cool and open air, and very slowly 
permitted to return to his usual food. 

When the disease is quite subdued, the cleansing of the cow-house 
should be seriously undertaken, and thoroughly accomplished, Let 
every portion of filth and dung be carefully removed, the walls, and 
the wood-work, and the floor carefully washed with water, or soap 
and water, and then every part washed again with a lotion, in the 
proportion of a quarter of a pound of the chloride of lime, in powder, 
to a bucket of water. This will be better than any fumigation that 
can be possibly applied. Should, however, the chloride of lime not 
be at hand, then a simple and cheap fumigation, on which very con- 
siderable dependence can be placed, may be resorted to. 

Fumigation. — Take common salt, two pounds ; oil of vitriol, one 
pound. 

The salt should be put in an earthen vessel, and placed in the 
middle of the cow-house, and the oil of vitriol gradually poured upon 
it. They should be stirred well together with a stick, and the person 
preparing the thing should retreat as quickly as he can, to prevent 
himself from suffering by the fumes of the chloride, closing the door 
carefully after him, every window and aperture having been previously 
closed. In a few hours he may enter the cow-house again, and 
remove the vessel, without any serious inconvenience. 

[A remedy much used for murrain, in Holland has been brought 
before the American public, by J. S. Skinner, Esq., editor of the 
" Plow, the Loom, and the Anvil." It is this : — nitrate of potash, 






THE MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC— MURRAIN. 255 

170 grains ; bole armenian, 20 grains. Dissolve in a pint of water, 
and give, to be repeated as often as required. — Am. Ed.] 

Homoeopathic treatment. — With respect to treatment, arsenicum is 
a certain means of cure and preservation. On the first symp- 
toms of the disease being perceived, such as loss of appetite, suspen- 
sion of rumination, trembling of the hind legs, staggering when walk- 
ing, hair dull and rough, eyes swimming in water, alternations of 
heat and cold in the horns and ears, disappearance of milk, &c, a 
dose of arsenicum should be administered, which is to be repeated 
every five to fifteen minutes, until there is marked improvement ; 
in slight cases one hour or an hour and a half interval may be al- 
lowed between the doses. The curative effect becomes perceptible 
after a very little time, and so much the sooner, in proportion as the 
attack was more violent ; so that in the most acute cases the amend- 
ment often becomes perceptible in a quarter or in half an hour, 
which is recognized by the following characters : the animal shakes 
oft' the stupor, looks around it, and notices the person taking care of 
it ; the trembling diminishes or ceases altogether, the horns and ears 
are less cold, or less burning ; there is a little* appetite, the hair lies 
down, the eye loses its fixedness, and the animal has an alvine dis- 
charge ; the evacuations vary much, being sometimes natural, some- 
times bloody or mucous ; at length a general warm sweat sets in, or 
tumors, abscesses, or eruptions ; in the case of cows the milk returns. 
When these signs of improvement are observed to take place, we 
must wait for some time before repeating the dose, being always 
regulated by the degree of severity with which the disease com- 
menced ; if the aggression be violent, and the first dose produces no 
perceptible effect, after a quarter of an hour, or, at most, half an 
hour, the arsenicum must be repeated, and then continued at the 
same intervals ; if, on the contrary, the disease be but moderate, it 
is better to allow the first dose to act for an hour ; and if an improve- 
ment take place, a second is not given until the amendment ceases to 
progress. Often a single dose suffices to remove the disease, whilst 
in other cases, from two to four, even from twenty to thirty, are 
required, before we obtain a complete cure. It is unnecessary to 
say that during the whole course of treatment, we should not lose 
sight of the patient for a moment. 

Should an amendment or cure be obtained, all is not yet over ; 
two cases may still occur. 

1. A relapse of the disease. This may take place after the lapse 
of from four to sixteen hours. It is important then to watch the 
animal during twenty-four hours, and still to make it take a few 
doses, at intervals of about four hours. If the relapse had already 
taken place, we should proceed as on the former occasion ; but the 
danger would be still greater. 



256 CATTLE. 

2. Other circumstances supervene, which, however, are never dan- 
gerous. In different regions of the body, cold, soft, or hard tumors, 
of an indolent kind, form. Sometimes there remain hard indura- 
tions, or swelling of the glands and teats, with suppression or diminu- 
tion of the milky secretion. Though the teat presents nothing ab- 
normal, the milk is less abundant, or altered in its qualities. The 
skin is covered with small scabs succeeding pustules which contained 
a fluid ; the eruption occupied the entire or only a portion of the 
body ; it is accompanied with itching or not ; the hair remains star- 
ing, and does not recover its brightness. The evacuations continue 
to be hard and scanty. There is emphysema under the skin ; cre- 
pitation is felt on passing the hand over it. The skin is completely 
hard, and does not yield to the action of its proper muscles ; the 
appetite and ruminations are not reestablished. 

All these sequelae yield in a little time to the prolonged use of 
arsenicum, a dose of which is to be taken every six hours, until no 
trace any longer remains ; which usually is the work of three or four 
days. The absence of appetite and sluggishness of the intestinal 
canal quickly yield to., a few doses of nux vomica. The appetite 
almost always returns four or six hours after the first, and if the con- 
stipation continue, the medicine is to be repeated every six hours. 
Spiritus sulphuratus is employed for the eruption, and arsenicum 
for all the other ailments. 

In order to preserve the animals from the disease, they are made 
to take, first every forty-eight hours, then every twenty-four, and 
lastly every twelve hours, one drop of arsenicum in the morning, one 
hour before eating, and in the evening, two hours after doing so. 

THE EPIDEMIC OF 1840 AND 1841. 

Since the last edition of this work was published, a new disease 
has appeared amongst cattle and sheep, and for the last ten years it 
has spread through the kingdom as an epidemic, scarcely sparing a 
single parish from its visitation. Though not by any means usually 
fatal in its effects, it has yet altogether destroyed a great number, 
and the pecuniary loss has been still greater from the debilitating 
effects which it has produced or left behind. It has been proved to 
be extremely infectious, and it is difficult to say whether the greater 
number of cases have been thus produced or spontaneously occa- 
sioned. It has sometimes appeared amongst the cattle of a farm, 
scarcely sparing a single case ; and again, after some months' absence, 
it has re-appeared on the same farm amongst the sheep, or perhaps 
the swine. In some cases, and on some occasions, the symptoms of 
the disease have been very slight, and the cases have soon got well 
without any medical treatment ; but in other cases the symptoms 
have been extremely severe, and attended with danger. It has 



THE EPIDEMIC OF 1840 AND 1841. 257 



usually happened that the earlier and the later cases have been 
somewhat slight, and the middle ones much more dangerous. In this 
respect it has resembled other epidemics. The cause of this disease 
is contagion ; and in cases of spontaneous appearance, it is brought on 
to the farm by hares and rabbits. 

The disease is decidedly constitutional, though manifesting itself 
locally in a peculiar manner ; its nature is that of a low fever, great 
debility quickly supervening, and sometimes exhibiting a tendency to 
putridity. If the very earliest symptoms be observed, it will gene- 
rally be found that cold extremities, a staring coat, and indeed a cold 
fit are exhibited ; but a reaction soon follows, in which the limbs 
become hot, and then saliva issues from the. mouth, and the tongue 
is somewhat swollen. At the same time some degree of tenderness 
in the feet is manifested, and the pulse is quickened and the beast is 
altogether feverish. The soreness of the mouth and feet increases ; 
small bladders are found on the tongue, the lips and other parts of 
the mouth, and likewise between the hoofs, and sometimes also on 
the teats. The animal gradually ceases to feed, from the pain expe- 
rienced in the act, and sometimes the appetite itself fails. The blad- 
ders become opaque, and at length burst find discharge a waterv 
fluid ; and this increases the soreness of the parts. The flow of 
saliva increases, and in a few days the cuticle sloughs off. Some- 
times there are swellings along the back and loins, which appear to 
contain air. The disease thus continues, becoming gradually more 
severe until four or five days from the commencement, when amend- 
ment generally takes place, and the beast gradually recovers. Some- 
times, however, the complaint becomes complicated with inflammation 
of some organ — such as the lungs, and the danger is then much 
greater ; or it may take on a low typhoid form, under which the 
animal may sink. In milch cows the udder is often affected, occa- 
sionally much inflamed, and attended with danger. 

The treatment of this disease must be moderate in its character, and 
should consist in checking the fever, relaxing the bowels, healino- the 
sores on the mouth and feet, and afterwards assisting the strength 
with tonics. 

Bleeding should in general be abstained from, unless there be some 
severe local inflammation present, calculated to increase the debility ; 
but the following laxative should be administered without loss of 
time : — 

Take Epsom salts, half a pound ; sulphur, two or four ounces ; 
nitre, half an ounce ; ginger, two drachms ; spirit of nitrous ether, 
one ounce. Dissolved in warm water or gruel, and repeated once a 
day for several days. 

The following liniment may be applied to the mouth several times 
a day : — 



258 CATTLE. 

Take alum and white vitriol, of each half an ounce ; molasses, a quar- 
ter of a pint. Dissolve in a pint of warm water. 

The feet should be carefully pared, and if much inflamed, a poultice 
may be applied ; but if not so, and there is a sore, equal parts of 
tincture of myrrh and butyr of antimony. One application of this 
caustic is generally sufficient, and the sore should afterwards be 
dressed once a day with the following : — 

Astringent Powder. — Take blue vitriol, powdered, half an ounce ; 
powdered alum, half an ounce ; prepared chalk, two ounces ; arme- 
nian bole, one ounce. 

Linseed and oatmeal gruel should be offered to drink, and mashes, 
with the best food that can be procured. If the weather be fine, it 
will be better to continue the cattle at grass ; but if housed, they 
should be kept clean and dry. When the bowels are relaxed, and 
there appears much weakness, the following tonic should be given 
daily : — 

Take powdered ginger, one drachm ; powdered caraway seeds, 
one drachm ; gentian, powdered, four drachms ; spirit of nitrous 
ether, one ounce. To be mixed slowly with gruel. 

If there should be any appearance of colic or spasm of the bowels, 
an ounce of laudanum maj r be given with the other medicine ; and if 
the liver be affected, a drachm of calomel may be added, and a blis- 
tering application rubbed on the right side. 

Should the lungs be inflamed, it will be proper to bleed and blister 
the sides, or insert setons in the brisket. If the udder be affected, it 
should be well and frequently fomented with hot water, and the milk 
should be drawn with great care. 

PHARYNGITES — SORE THROAT. 

Inflammation of the respiratory passages is often confined to particu- 
lar and to very small portions of them. The posterior part of the 
mouth, the pharynx, through the funnel-shaped cavity of which the 
food passes in order to arrive at the gullet, is peculiarly subject to 
inflammation : it is recognized under the term sore throat, and is 
usually accompanied with cough, and other symptoms of catarrh. 

The characteristic symptoms are disinclination to food, suspension 
of rumination, and difficulty in swallowing. Solid food is either 
dropped from the mouth when partly masticated, or it is forced down 
by a painful effort ; liquids are generally obstinately refused, or are 
swallowed by a convulsive kind of gulp. There is tenderness extend- 
ing from ear to ear, and usually some degree of enlargement in 
proportion to the inflammation of the neighboring parts, and especially 
the parotid glands are involved. Occasionally the irritation of the 
pharynx produces constriction of its muscles, and a portion of the 
food, both solid and fluid, is returned through the nostrils. The 



EPIDEMIC AFFECTION OF THE UPPER AIR-PASSAGES. 259 

cough of sore throat is a painful one, and is confined to the throat. 
It is often a decidedly local affection ; there is not much tendency to 
take on inflammation in the neighboring parts ; the treatment will be 
bleeding and physic, to abate the general fever, and stimulating 
embrocations, or even blisters, to subdue the local inflammation. 

The great development of the ethmoid and turbinated bones in 
the nose of the ox, in order to increase the acuteness of smell in that 
animal, has already been described (p. 181). The consequence of this 
is, that there is but a small passage left for the air, and when the 
membrane of the nose occasionally sympathizes with that of the 
pharynx, and becomes inflamed and thickened, there ensues a diffi- 
culty of breathing, from sore throat. It is true that the ox breathes 
partly through the mouth, but the pharynx itself is constricted and 
thickened, and the breathing becomes laborious almost to suffocation : 
therefore sore throat should be considered in a rather serious light, 
and be treated with corresponding promptitude. 

LARYNGITES INFLAMMATION OF THE LARYNX. 

This is a dreadful disease, and, fortunately, of rare occurrence. It 
is inflammation of the lining membrane of the larynx, and is attended 
by a quickened, loud and laborious breathing, that would scarcely be 
thought credible. In some exceedingly acute cases the number of 
respirations equals, or even exceeds, that of the pulse. The least 
pressure on the neck over the larynx seems to give intense pain. 
The treatment is bleeding, physic, blisters, and, when suffocation 
actually threatens, tracheotomy. 

EPIDEMIC AFFECTION OF THE UPPER AIR-PASSAGES. 

In low and marshy districts, and a wet, cold, ungenial spring or 
autumn, there is occasionally an epidemic inflammation of the 
pharynx, larynx, and windpipe, which differs in some respects from 
any of the diseases yet described, and is very fatal. The malady 
commences like most febrile ones, with loss of appetite and suspen- 
sion of rumination ; to these speedily succeed dullness, some prostra- 
tion of strength, and a slight difficulty of breathing. On the follow- 
ing day, or in the course of a few hours, the throat becomes tender, 
and it is evidently a little gorged between the channel, and extending 
some way down the neck. The animal finds difficulty and pain in 
moving his head or his neck, and in swallowing the medicines or 
drinks which are given to him. The engorgement slowly proceeds, 
or seems to be stationary for a while ; the fever acquires no high 
degree of intensity, but the languor and prostration of strength in- 
crease ; sometimes there is discharge from the mouth or nose, of a 
purulent character, yellowish-white in color, fetid, tinged with blood, 
and seeming to contain particles of some mucous membrane which 



260 CATTLE. 

has been corroded, and is coming away piecemeal. The disease fre- 
quently terminates in suffocation, about the fourth or fifth day. 

On examination after death, the pharynx is generally filled with 
this purulent matter, and the membrane beneath is in a state of ul- 
ceration, or gangrene. The inflammatory appearance, and the gan- 
grenous one too, extend to a greater or less distance down the gullet ; 
they usually occupy the whole of the larynx, and often a considera- 
ble portion of the windpipe, and occasionally may be traced into the 
bronchial tubes. It is evidently a local affection ; it is acute inflam- 
mation of the pharynx or the larynx ; oftenest of the former, and 
sometimes of both. The contents of the thorax and the abdomen 
are usually free from disease. 

Bleeding has been found of little service in this complaint ; and it 
is necessary either to hasten the suppuration while the surrounding 
membrane and other parts retain some vital power, or to evacuate 
the fluid as quickly as possible. For the first purpose, blisters of 
various kinds, and even the heated iron, have been applied to the 
throat ; for the second, the tumor has been lanced, however deeply 
it may be seated. It requires, however, an experienced veterinary 
surgeon to conduct any operation here, for the part is crowded with 
important blood-vessels, the wounding of one of which may be 
fatal. 

When there is no great external enlargement, and yet much diffi- 
culty of breathing, and suffocation is threatened, there is reason to 
apprehend that the pharynx, or some factitious pouch which nature 
has suddenly formed for the fluid, or the guttural pouches, (yet very 
rarely, for they are small in the ox,) or the commencement of the 
communication between the mouth and the ear, are filled with pus. 
None but a -skillful veterinary surgeon should attempt an opening in 
such a case. The following hints may be some guide. 

PUNCTURING THE PHARYNX. 

The beast must be cast, and properly secured. This must be 
effected with as little violence as possible, for in the struggles of the 
animal, and the sudden quickening of the breathing, suffocation may 
ensue in a moment. If there be a little greater enlargement on one 
side than on the other, the animal should be cast with that side up- 
ward. The operator should now have the head of the patient mode- 
rately extended, and then he will ascertain the situation of the middle 
of the anterior edge of the atlas, or first bone of the neck (??., p. 143). 
Close upon this, or connected with it, he will find the posterior edge 
of the parotid gland. He should elevate the skin, and, takhig the 
edge of the atlas as a guide, and following its direction, he should 
make his incision about two, or not exceeding three inches in length, 
but no deeper than the skin and the cellular substance, and the 
centre of his incision should answer to the centre of the rounded 



PUNCTURING THE PHARYNX. 261 

edge of the atlas. A thin layer, partly muscular and partly fibrous, 
Avill now present itself. It belongs to the subcutaneous muscle of 
the neck, and it lies upon the parotid gland. He should dissect 
through it carefully, and if his first incision has been a correct one, 
he will come upon the posterior edge of the parotid gland. This he 
must separate cautiously from the atlas, and from the cellular tissue 
by which it is tied down, and elevate, or turn it aside, as far as the 
middle of the space which separates the atlas from the mastoid 
process. 

The forefinger must now be introduced into the opening. There 
is first felt a layer of soft parts, and then the superior lateral branch 
of the hyoid bone, from the extremity of which a flat muscle — the 
stylo-hyoideus (fig. 13, p. 203)" — goes to the styloid process of the 
occipital bone. Immediately under this muscle lies that portion of 
the pharynx which is connected with the guttural tube of the ear ; 
and now, the back of the instrument being turned towards, or touch- 
ing the pafc-tid gland, and the edge of it towards the ear, and the 
head being somewhat more extended in order to change a little the 
situation of the carotids and nerves, the bistoury is plunged through 
the muscle into the pharynx beneath. 

Sometimes the whole of the fluid cannot be evacuated through 
this first incision, and a new one must be sought in a more downward 
direction. A curved sounding instrument must be introduced into 
the first orifice, and the end of it made to press against different parts 
of the cavity, until it can be plainly felt externally between the bifur- 
cation of the jugular : every important vessel and nerve will be in 
this way pushed aside, and the point of the sound may be cut down 
upon without danger. 

Pharyngitis, laryngitis, inflammation of the windpipe, in short, all 
inflammation of the air- passages, are termed angina, homceopathicallv ; 
and the treatment of one of these diseases will be a formula for all 
of them, and each of them should be treated as here indicated. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The first remedy in this oftentimes rather 
dangerous disease, is aconitum, which generally suffices when we have 
recourse to it in time ; we are to administer from two to four doses' 
within the space of from three to four hours. If the respiratory organs 
are more especially affected, so that the respiration is difficult, loud, 
whistling, or if there be a swelling, painful externally, some doses of 
spongia marina are to be given. Hepar sulphuris has been found 
very effectual in the second case, and likewise bryonia. When the 
angina affects more particularly the organs of deglutition, so that 
liquids cannot be swallowed, and return always by the nostrils, the 
look of the animal being fixed and wild, belladonna acts as a specific. 
Capsicum is suitable in inflammation of the mucous membranes of 
the throat, with kinks of coughing, and without any appreciable 
fever. Antimonium crudum may also be then tried with success. 



262 CATTLE. 



When an external lesion, as a blow, &c, has occasioned external 
swelling and inflammation of the neck, in consequence of which an 
angina has supervened, we are to give some doses of aconitum, then 
arnica, which are sufficient in many instances, unless the inflamma- 
tion has made too much progress. If, after the inflammatory symp- 
toms have been removed, there remain a swelling in the neck, we 
should have recourse to baryta carbonica, and when that is not suffi- 
cient, to hepar sulphuris. 

BRONCHITIS. 

"When catarrh begins to spread, and to involve the lower and more 
important air-passages, it attacks the bronchial tubes oftener than 
any other portion of the respiratory apparatus, and is inflammation 
of the lower and minuter air-passages, It used to be called inflam- 
mation of the lungs in cattle, and is so considered by the majority of 
farmers and cow-leeches ; but since the improvement of veterinary 
science, this distinction, one of some moment, has been established. 
Bronchitis, however, is seldom pure ; it is the prevailing disease, but 
it is complicated with slighter inflammation of the neighboring sub- 
stance of the lungs. Bronchitis is rarely sudden in its attack. It is pre- 
ceded, and generally for a long time, by cough, which becomes more 
and more frequent and painful, and husky and wheezing. 

Here, then, is another motive for attention to the hoose of cattle. 
Simple catarrh may do little harm ; but the inflammatory affection 
will gradually involve other and more important membranes, inflam- 
mation of which is generally fatal. Bronchitis is the intermediate 
step between catarrh and consumption, and it unfortunately is that 
step which, if once taken, the other must follow. We may, there- 
fore, except when the disease assumes an epidemic character, (which 
it not unfrequently does, and particularly in young cattle,) attribute 
it to the neglect or mismanagement of the herdsman or the owner. 

The existence of bronchitis may usually be detected by a gradual 
change of the countenance ; a sunken, anxious, haggard look ; a 
rapid and laborious breathing, attributable, at first glance, to some- 
thing more than mere catarrh, however severe that may occasionally 
be ; a cough, painful to a very great degree, and against the full 
action of which the animal strives as much as he is able, so that it is 
not full and perfect, but husky and wheezing. There is a very con- 
siderable disinclination to move, which is easily accounted for ; for 
inflammation of the bronchial membrane is accompanied by thicken- 
ing of it, and by the secretion of a quantity of viscid mucus, so that 
the passages are, to a considerable degree, obstructed. This gives a 
consciousness of the danger of suffocation, and occasionally the 
disease terminates in suffocation. The slightest motion aggravates 
the cough ; and motion of a sudden kind sadly oppresses and terri- 
fies the animal. The breath is hot. The seat of inflammation being 



BRONCHITIS. 263 



deep, no pain is indicated when the side of the animal is pressed 
upon, or lightly struck, and the animal does not gaze anxiously at its 
sides. The most important of all, and marking the fatal progress of 
the disease, the animal loses flesh rapidly, to a very great extent, and 
becomes a mere skeleton. 

To young cattle bronchitis is particularly destructive, and the 
symptoms and accompanying circumstances are very singular. A 
yearling is often observed to have a cough peculiarly distressing. If 
bled, and setoned, and physicked, the symptoms will sometimes 
rapidly abate ; but in most cases remedial measures are applied in 
vain. The cough continues as distressing as ever. The intermissions 
are short, and the paroxysms exceedingly violent. The beast is off 
his feed, hide-bound, his belly tucked up, his coat staring, his flank 
heaving, and it is painful to hear him cough. This occurs principally 
on low, marshy woody lands. 

The animal at length dies, and the whole of the bronchial passages 
are found to be completely choked up with worms. They are of the 
strongylus species, and mostly the filaria. Many of them are also 
found in the windpipe ; and the mucous membrane both of the 
windpipe and the bronchial passage presents an appearance of the 
intensest inflammation. 

Worms are oftenest found in an injurious quantity in a moist state 
of the atmosphere, or in moist situations, and especially in those 
which abundantly produce the vegetables and grasses peculiar to 
such a locality ; and also in young subjects, and in those whose con- 
stitution is somewhat enfeebled. 

Bronchitis, when not attended with all the violent symptoms that 
characterize the existence of worms in young cattle, should be treat- 
ed like other inflammatory complaints. Bleeding will, as usual, be 
the first remedy, and it should be carried to the extent which the 
pulse will allow ; in general, however, the ox will not, in this com- 
plaint, bear the loss of so much blood as in other chest affections. 
To this should follow physic, and the sedative medicines already 
recommended, with mashes, &c. 

In some cases a favorable termination of the disease has been pro- 
duced ; but in the bronchitis with worms there are exceedingly few 
cases of successful treatment. No drug can be brought to bear upon 
these worms directly ; for no fluid at all can pass into these tubes. 
Diluted chlorine gas might be inhaled. It might be breathed more 
readily, if an artificial opening were made into the larynx. Other 
symptoms of bronchitis, and particularly the feeling of suffocation, 
might also be relieved or removed by this. 

The animal would, probably, be much annoyed by such inhala- 
tion ; he might cough for a while with even greater violence ; but 
the worms dying, or their hold being loosened, they might be ex- 
pelled through the natural or artificial opening by the very urgency 



264 CATTLE. 

of the cough. That veterinary surgeon or agriculturist would de- 
serve well who puts this fairly to the test. 

There is another mode of going to work, and one that promises 
occasional success. There are certain drugs that are taken up by the 
lacteals, or by some of the absorbent vessels, and carried into the 
circulation, and produce their effect by immediate contact with the 
part on which they operate. Thus mercury acts in various local 
diseases ; iodine lessens the growth of many tumors ; and turpen- 
tine is a diuretic. Turpentine is peculiarly destructive to worms. 
It enters into every part of the circulation : is recognizable in the 
urine and in the breath. The turpentine failing, it might be worth 
while to try the effect of squills, or the gum benzoin, or the balsams 
of Peru and Tom. (See page 249.) 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The medicines to be employed will, in 
a great measure, be regulated by the different stages of the disease ; 
amongst the most useful, we shall find bryonia alba, aconite, bella- 
donna, phosphorus, mercurius, cannabis, spongia, &c. If the inflam- 
mation is high, we should commence the treatment by giving aconite, 
particularly when the pulse is high, and the skin hot and dry. Bel- 
ladonna, when there is rattling of mucus, distressing cough, and op- 
pression of the chest. Bryonia, with dryness of the mouth and diffi- 
cult respiration ; this remedy is more called for when it is apt to 
degenerate into pleurisy. Phosphorus is particularly indicated when 
there is reason to apprehend extension of the disease to the substance 
of the lungs. Mercurius, when the symptoms resemble catarrh, 
with swelling of the glands and an increase of saliva. Spongia, 
when the affection threatens to become chronic. When the breathing 
is very difficult, tartarus emeticus may be given ; and if the secretion 
is abundant, sepia will be found useful ; also arsenicum is a valua- 
ble remedy when the disease assumes an epidemic form. It is also 
useful to administer a few doses of sulphur when the animal is to 
all appearance recovered. If the affection has been allowed to be- 
come chronic, the remedies most useful will be found to be spongia, 
sulphur, calcarca, carbonica, phosphorus, causticum, silicea, arsenicum, 
conium, stannum, <fcc. 

INFLAMMATION OF THK LUNGS. 

The beautiful appearance of the lights, or lungs, in cattle, will 
sufficiently prove that these animals are, comparatively, seldom sub- 
ject to pure inflammation of the lungs. It has been acknowledged, 
however, that, to a certain extent, it accompanies bronchitis ; for, 
when the membrane of the air-passages is inflamed, it is to be ex- 
pected that the air-cells in which these passages terminate will not 
quite escape. 

The substance of the lungs is made up of thousands of these little 



INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 265 



cells or pouches, into which the air is conducted; and over the 
delicate membranes constituting the divisions of which myriads of 
minute vessels are ramifying, and where the blood undergoes its 
important change. It is easy to imagine that this membrane, so 
delicate, and so loaded with blood-vessels, must be subject to in- 
flammation of an exceedingly dangerous character. 

Still, however, these air-cells are not so often the seat of inflam- 
mation in cattle as might on first consideration be imagined. There 
are exciting causes enough of inflammation in the air-passages from 
exposure to the inclemency of the weather, and from the general 
bad management to which cattle are subject ; and this may run on 
to the formation of tubercles and ulcers, and death. 

Until lately, all chest affections were confounded under the term 
pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs. Pneumonia occasionally 
attacks all cattle, but more particularly working beasts, and those 
that have been driven long, or hurried on their journey. The dis- 
ease usually appears at the distance of some hours, or a day or two, 
from the exciting cause of it, and can generally be clearly traced to 
that cause. The beast is dull — the head is extended or drooping — 
grazing and rumination have ceased. The flanks heave, but not so 
laboriously as in bronchitis. There is cough frequent — sore, but not 
so frequent, so urgent, nor so painful as that of bronchitis. The 
mouth is hot, but the horns and ears and feet are deathy cold. The 
animal will not lie down — will scarcely move, but more from inabil- 
ity to move because he wants the use of the muscles for other pur- 
poses, than from fear of suffocation— and he plainly points out the 
seat of disease by looking at one or both flanks. Pneumonia, then, 
would be easily distinguished from the disease which has been just 
treated of, and" from pleurisy, which will next come under considera- 
tion, if the symptoms of the maladies of cattle were but a little more 
attended to than they generally are. 

The treatment will vary in some minute particulars. Bleeding 
will be indicated, and as early as possible, and the blood should flow 
until the pulse is affected. A much greater quantity will be ab- 
stracted in this disease than in bronchitis, because the animal will 
bear up, or struggle with the loss of blood. In a membrane so vas- 
cular as that which lines the air-cells, the inflammation will often 
be so intense that it will not yield to one bleeding, and the progress 
of the disease must therefore be watched with this view. 

Copious bleeding is the remedy most to be depended on for sub- 
duing the inflammation, and should be had recourse to as soon as the 
disease is discovered. The beast should be put into a cool cow-house, 
well littered, and immediately bled. If the difficulty of breathing 
and other symptoms are not much relieved in six or eight hours 
after the first bleeding, it should be repeated. A third or fourth 
bleeding may in bad cases be requisite. In this disease, more than 
12 



266 CATTLE. 

in any other, the person who attends the cattle should be present 
when the beast is bled. It is impossible, by looking at the patient, 
and considering the symptoms, to say what quantity of blood ought 
to be taken away ; but, as a general rule, and especially in inflamma- 
tion of the lungs, and at the first bleeding, the blood should flow un- 
til the pulse begins to falter, and the animal seems inclined to faint. 
The faltering of the pulse will regulate the quantity of the after- 
bleedings. Little bleedings of two or three quarts, at the commence- 
ment of inflammation of the lungs, can never be of service ; from six 
to eight quarts must be taken, or even more, regulated by the cir- 
cumstances that have been mentioned, and the blood should flow in a 
large full stream. 

Physic will be plainly indicated, and it may be given to cattle in 
pneumonia, generally with advantage, and always without apprehen- 
sion. It should, however, be of an unirritating kind. The purga- 
tive effect should be first produced by the Epsom salts, and kept 
up by sulphur. In an acute inflammation, like that of the lungs, it 
is necessary that the physic should act speedily, and yet it may ac- 
cumulate in the rumen. The practitioner hardly dare to unite with 
it aromatic or stimulating matter in order to rouse this comparatively 
insensible viscus to action, but he must have speedy recourse to the 
stomach-pump, in the way already pointed out. 

Blisters will here be especially indicated. The inflammation is no 
longer that of the air-passages deep in the substance of the lungs, 
but of their terminations, upon the surface of the lungs, as well as 
everywhere else. It is difficult to cause a blister to rise on the thick 
skin of the ox ; yet the common blister-ointment, thoroughly rubbed 
in, will occasionally have effect. The turpentine tincture of cantha- 
rides, repeatedly applied, will cause considerable swelling ; or, both 
of these failing, there remain, in bad cases, boiling water and the hot 
iron at command. Setons in the dewlap should never be omit 
ted, and should be inserted immediately after the first bleeding, 
and the purging drink given. Four drachms of nitre, two of ex- 
tract of belladonna, and one of tartarized antimony, may afterwards 
be administered twice a day, in a drink. 

Attention to diet is requisite, and warm water and mashes must be 
regularly given two or three times a day. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Some doses of aconitum at short inter- 
vals, (every hour or every two hours,) generally remove the violent 
fever, after which some doses of bryonia (one morning and night,) 
establish a perfect cure on the second or third day. It is scarcely 
necessary to say that the beast must be carefully watched for some 
time, and that it must be protected from damp and cold. Neglected 
cases of pneumonia have been cured by means of china and nitrum, 
after tubercles had probably been formed in the lungs. If the appe- 
tite is not soon restored, nux vomica and arsenicum should be given. 



ACUTE AND EPIDEMIC PNEUMONIA. 267 

The following medicines will also be found very useful, tartarus 
emeticus, sanguinarius canadensis, phosphorus, cannabis, cinchona, 
rhus toxicodendron, &c. 

ACUTE AND EPIDEMIC PNEUMONIA. 

An acute species of pneumonia in cattle is sometimes met with, 
and it occasionally appears as an epidemic. The beast hangs his 
head — there is dryness of the muzzle — the mouth and breath are 
hot — the flanks more or less agitated — there is a hard, dry, and fre- 
quent cough — the appetite is gone, but the thirst is excessive — the 
excrement is solid and black, or liquid, black, and fetid — the coat 
rough — the horns and ears hot, or alternately hot and cold — there 
is languor and apparent weakness, and sometimes direct lameness, 
and most frequently of one of the hind legs. 

To these rapidly succeed other symptoms — that tenderness along 
the spine and the whole of the lumbar region which has been again 
and again described as so characteristic of almost every inflammato- 
ry disease of cattle ; the head is now stretched out — the eyes are 
unnaturally bright, yet weeping — there is grinding of the teeth — 
the mouth and breath become hotter — a mucous, or sometimes pur- 
ulent discharge runs from the mouth and nostrils, at first clear, but 
soon becoming brown, red, or bloody — the flanks heave more vio- 
lently — the cough is more urgent — it has become convulsive — the 
nostrils dilate and contract with spasmodic violence — the animal no 
longer lies down, or if he does, rises again immediately — sweats 
break out on different parts of the body — the temperature of differ- 
ent parts varies, and very curiously changes — the secretion of milk is 
suspended, but the teats become hard and swelled — tumors appear 
on various parts — a shivering, partial or total, succeeds, and the 
tumors disappear, but they speedily rise again and are more per- 
manent. Possibly some of the most urgent of the symptoms remit 
when the tumors begin to appear, but towards night an exacerba- 
tion succeeds, which does not subside until the morning. 

The prostration of strength increases — the belly is tucked up and 
corded — the flanks heave with greater violence — the back and loins 
become bowed — the limbs are drawn together towards the centre of 
gravity — the stools are liquid and fetid, and accompanied by much 
straining and tenesmus — the sensibility of the loins is now subsided 
— the sensibility generally is almost gone — the flies collect about the 
beast, and he makes no effort to drive them away — every irritant 
ceases to act upon the skin — the respiration is quickened, and more 
and more laborious — it is accompanied by a gurgling noise in the 
chest, distinctly heard even without the application of the ear to the 
side — the nostrils become yet more dilated, and the mucus flowing 
from them varies in color, but exhales a cadaverous, infectious odor 
— the breath is now become cold, and is as offensive as the discharge 



268 CATTLE. 

— the pupil of the eye becomes dilated — an offensive secretion pro- 
ceeds from the lids, and the animal is evidently becoming blind — the 
prostration of strength still goes on — the beast falls — he perhaps 
rises again for a little while— and then falls and dies. 

The disease is sometimes rapid in its progress, and the animal is 
destroyed in twenty-four or eight-and-forty hours after the first 
attack. This is particularly the case with young cattle, and those 
that are in good condition. At other times, the beast lingers on six 
or seven days. 

On examination after death, the lungs are gorged and black with 
blood ; they are softened, and easily torn ; they, however, contain 
some spots of hepatization, or condensed substances, and often 
abscesses filled with pus. In manj>- parts gangrene has begun, and 
chiefly about the anterior portion of the lung. The pleura, the peri- 
cardium, and the diaphragm are black, thickened, and disposed to 
gangrene. Traces of inflammation are found in the abdomen, but 
not of so intense a character. The rumen is filled with dry food ; 
the contents of the manyplus are so hardened that they may be 
broken and reduced to powder ; the fourth stomach is more or less 
inflamed ; the liver is enlarged, and of a yellow color, and the bile is 
thickened. 

It is evidently inflammation of the lungs, associated, more or less, 
with that typhoid form of disease to which cattle are so subject. 
Solitary cases of it are seen ; but it often appears as a kind of epi- 
demic. It used to be called gangrenous inflammation of the lungs, 
from the supposed gangrenous state in which the lungs were found ; 
but these appearances are produced more by congestion, and indicate 
the violence with which the blood has been driven through the vessels 
of the air-cells, and by which those vessels have been ruptured, and 
the cells filled with blood. The blood, once effused, soon coagulates 
in the cells, and gives that black, softened, pulpy kind of appearance 
which the cow-leech and the herdsman used to think was proof posi- 
tive of rottenness. It is true that this effused blood soon begins to be 
decomposed, and the fetid smell of corruption ensues ; but this is 
very different from gangrene of a living part. These congested lungs 
show that the inflammation was of the intensest character, and had 
not been long in destroying the animal. 

A contagious character of the disease is far from being establisht d. 
No other variety of pneumonia with which we are acquainted is con- 
tagious, at least under ordinary circumstances ; yet the farmer should 
take the most prudent course, and avoid, as much as he can, the 
possibility of contagion. 

Few years pass in which this acute pneumonia does not visit some 
districts. The symptoms vary, but it is decidedly a disease of the 
respiratory system primarily, and the danger depends on the intensity 
of the inflammatory action in the early stage, and the degree in 



ACUTE AND EPICEMIC PNEUMONIA. 269 



which, the vital power being exhausted, disease of a typhoid and 
malignant character succeeds. 

Of the nature of the treatment there can be no rational doubt. 
Although the state of acute fever is quickly succeeded by one of a 
perfectly contrary character, it is not until it has committed the most 
earful ravages. The congested state of the lungs— the breaking 
down of the substance of that important part — must be sufficient to 
convince any rational person of the mischief that is going forward in 
the early stage, and the necessity of disarming the enemy before that 
mischief is irreparably inflicted. Therefore this acute pneumonia 
should be attacked in time, and by the most energetic treatment. 
Bleeding is the sheet-anchor, and should be pushed to its full extent. 
The important fact that the pulse, duly attended to, will prevent the 
possibility of injurious consequences from bleeding in every case, can- 
not be too often alluded to. While the pulse keeps up, the power 
of the constitution, or rather the power of the disease, is unimpaired ; 
and the faltering of pulse gives timely warning that one or the other 
is preparing to give way. It is folly to object that the after weakness 
will be increased, or that the bleeding will undermine the power of 
the constitution ; it is the disease which is doing this, and which will 
fatally accomplish its work if unchecked. By weakening the power 
of the disease, and especially by its removal, the vigor of the system 
would be preserved, and the animal would be saved. In proportion 
to the intensity and rapid progress of the inflammation should be the 
vigor the attack. 

The state of the cough, and heat of the breath, and heaving of the 
flanks, will indicate, in the space of a few hours, whether the fever is 
permanently diminished, or has again rallied its forces ; and by this 
the practitioner will be guided as to the propriety of a second bleed- 
ing, and the quantity of blood to be taken. 

Physic will of course succeed. Two scruples of the farina of the 
Croton nut should first be given, as most likely to operate speedily ; 
and the Epsom salts and the injection-pump should be in requisition 
until the bowels are well opened. 

This being accomplished, if the inflammation evidently continues, 
digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre will be given. If the fever is, to a 
very considerable degree, subdued, but it is far from certain whether 
there may not be lurking danger of its return, the sedative medicines 
must still be given, but half an once of the spirit of nitrous ether 
should be added. This is an excellent medicine in such cases. It is 
both a sedative and a tonic. It allays irritation, and it stimulates to 
healthy action. Its good effect, however, is often destroyed by its 
being given in enormous doses. In these doubtful cases it will rarely 
be prudent to give more than half an ounce ; and when designed as 
a stimulant, the dose should rarely or never exceed double thai 
quantity. 



270 CATTLE. 

If the stage of debility be evidently and rapidly approaching, the 
chance of doing good is almost gone. Yet there is no cause for 
absolute despair. The mouth and nostrils and any suppurating 
tumors must be washed with the chloride of lime. A small quantity 
— half a drachm — of the powder in solution should be given inter- 
nally, morning and night. The spirit of nitrous ether and laudanum, 
in doses not exceeding an ounce of the former with half an ounce of 
the latter, should be administered ; and to them may be added 
ginger, gentian, and Colombo, the whole being given in thick gruel, 
with half a pint of good ale. 

Malt mashes, vetches, carrots, clover, hay — according to the season 
— may be offered as food, and, should the situation and time of the 
year permit it, the animal should be turned into a salt-marsh as soon 
as it has strength to travel there. 

The epidemic nature of the malady not admitting of any doubt, 
and its contagious character being yet a question of dispute, while the 
healthy beasts are separated from the diseased, the owner cannot too 
often visit, nor too closely examine his cattle, in order to detect the 
earliest symptom of the disease, and to attack it while there is fair 
hope of success. 

The sound animals, every one of them, should be bled and phys- 
icked. This inflammation is most intense in its character, and strong 
and healthy beasts in good condition fare the worst ; then care should 
be taken to remove a plethoric state of the system, and thus to 
remove the predisposition to disease. They should likewise be turned, 
if possible, into a pasture good and containing sufficient nourishment, 
but not quite so luxuriant as that on which they had probably been 
placed. 

[Since the first and only edition of this work printed in England, 
this disease has prevailed fearfully there. It is known as the 
epizootic and pleura-pneumonia by the veterinarians ; and commonly 
as the lung-epidemic. It is now deemed contagious. It has assumed 
a still more terrible form, and is always fatal unless promptly treated 
on its very commencement ; not an hour is to be lost. — Am. Ed.] 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Some doses of aconitum at short inter- 
vals (every hour or every two hours,) generally remove the violent 
fever, after which some doses of bryonia (one morning and night,) 
establish a perfect cure on the second or third day. It is scarcely 
necessary to say that the beast must be carefully watched for some 
time, and that it must be protected from damp and cold. Neglected 
cases of pneumonia have been cured by means of china and nitrum, 
after tubercles had probably been formed in the lungs. If the appe- 
tite be not soon restored, mix vomica and arsenicum should be given. 

The following medicines will also be found very useful, — tartarus 
emeticus, sanguinarius canadensis, phosphorus, cannabis, cinchona, rhus 
toxicodendron, &c. 



PLEURISY. 271 



While disease of the substance of the lungs usually takes on the 
form of bronchitis in cattle, these animals are nevertheless subject to 
inflammation of the pleura, or covering membrane of the lung, and 
the lining one of the chest. Of the exciting causes of pneumonia, the 
most frequent and active, is the exposure to partial cold. The ox, 
after hard work, and the cow, too soon after parturition, have nothing 
but the cold, damp ground to lie upon. Even in his stable, the ox is 
too much neglected ; sleeping on dung undergoing fermentation. 
The evaporation and the diffusion of pestilential gas are in great 
activity. Nothing can be more likely to cause inflammation of the 
lining membrane of the chest. 

Pleurisy may be produced by contusions on the side, and by wounds 
penetrating the thoracic cavity : to these evils the ox, among his 
horned brethren, is much exposed. 

Post-mortem examination proves that, next to bronchitis, the most 
frequent disease of the chest is pleurisy. 

Among the symptoms by which we may distinguish pleurisy from 
every other inflammatory affection of the chest, is the greater fre- 
quency of universal shivering, and particularly of shivering or trem- 
bling of the shoulders. This is a very peculiar symptom, and should 
be carefully studied. Even while the animal is otherwise quiet, the 
shoulders and upper part of the chest are trembling violently. 

The cough of pleurisy is lower, shorter, and more painful than that 
of most other chest affections. The breathing, seldom so laborious 
as in some other cases, is shorter and broken off in the act of inspira- 
tion, and lengthened in that of expiration. The sides are tender ; the 
animal shrinks if they be but lightly touched ; and there are twitch- 
ings of the skin, and a very curious succession of wavy lines running 
over the affected side or sides. 

The termination of pleurisy is by the effusion of fluid into the chest, 
compressing the lungs on every side, gradually rendering respiration 
difficult, and at length impossible, and destroying the beast by suffo- 
cation. 

There is little difference in the treatment of pneumonia and pleurisy. 
In both, the inflammation must be subdued by bleeding, physic, seda- 
tives, blisters, setons, and restricted diet. Half an ounce of the 
common liquid turpentine m;iy be used with advantage, instead of 
the nitre, when the presence of pleurisy is clearly ascertained. 

No advantage has been taken of an operation on the pleuritic ox by 
which the fluid might be withdrawn from the chest. It may be 
worth* the attempt. 

There are generally adhesions between the covering of the lung 
and the lining of the sides ; and between the lung and the diaphragm, 
which would always interfere materially with the act of respiration 



272 CATTLE. 

and the health of the animal. In all these cases of chest affection 
there is so little prospect of saving the beast, that it would be the 
interest of the owner to have him slaughtered at the beginning, if he 
be at all in condition, or rather if he be not deploribly thin. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The chief remedy to be employed is 
aconitum, of which one dose is to be taken every two, three, or four 
hours, according to the severity of the fever, iintil it has entirely 
ceased. The same doses of bryonia are to be given, at intervals of 
from eight to twelve hours at least, which remove the remainder of 
the disease. Chamomilla contributes to restore the secretion of milk 
in milch cows. 

PHTHISIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 

This is only a continuation of the same subject, or, rather, it is a 
description of another termination of chronic disease of the lungs. 
One of the consequences of continued inflammation of the lungs is the 
formation of tubercles. There is a greater or smaller number of little 
distinct cysts, or cells, into which some fluid is poured in the progress 
of inflammation. These enlarge, and occupy a space varying from 
the size of a pin's head to that of a large egg. By degrees the fluid 
changes to a solid, and the tumor becomes harder than the surround- 
ing substance, and so continues for awhile — the consequence of 
inflammation, and the source of new irritation and disease.- 

At length it once more changes. The tubercle begins to soften at 
its centre, something like suppuration goes on there, and the contents 
of the swellings become perfectly fluid, but of a different nature from 
that which first filled the cyst. It is now pus. The cyst increases 
with greater or less rapidity ; it comes in contact with neighboring 
ones, and the walls of each are absorbed by their mutual pressure. 
They run together and form one cyst, which is called an abscess, or 
vomica. 

An animal possessing this tuberculated state of the lungs, and the 
tubercles running into abscesses, is said to be consumptive. So much 
of the lung is destroyed, that there is not enough left for the purposes 
of life, and the patient wastes away, and dies. 

The lungs of the cow, after chronic or neglected catarrh, or bron- 
chitis, or pneumonia, or pleurisy, are much disposed to assume this 
tuberculated and ulcerated state. The symptoms of consumption are 
not always to be distinguished from those of pleurisy, or even pneu- 
monia or bronchitis ; and sometimes there may be extensive ulceration 
of the lungs without any indication of disease sufficient to attract 
notice. When a bullock is fattened for the butcher, and killed, we 
occasionally wonder to observe how little of the lung is left for the 
purpose of breathing. 

A cough is the earliest symptom, but a cough of a peculiar char- 



PHTHISIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 273 

acter. That veterinary surgeon is ignorant of his profession, who 
does not at once, and at a distance, recognize the cough which, 
although it may not precisely indicate phthisis, betrays a state of the 
lungs pregnant with danger. 

If the cough be sonorous and clear, the lung is not yet fatally 
injured. That cough, however, must not be neglected long. If is 
the product of inflammation, that may be silently, but rapidly, 
disorganizing the lungs. The prudent man will not suffer such a 
cough to continue many days, without giving a mash, or a dose of 
physic ; or, perchance, bleeding, and inserting a seton. This is one 
of the points to which we cannot too often recur. It is new practice 
— new doctrine ; the interests of the agriculturist are peculiarly con- 
nected with it. 

By-and-by, this cough becomes altered. It is no longer loud, and 
clear, and careless ; it is lower in its tone — feeble — hoarse. Mischief 
has now been done, and perhaps of an irreparable kind. The farmer 
will not always be able to point out the precise nature of the affection 
of the chest from the sound of the cough ; but he will soon learn to 
do it much oftener, and much more certainly, than he has hitherto 
thought it possible. In simple catarrh there is an unchecked effort 
of the lungs to force on the cough ; yet some hoarseness may attend 
that cough, plainly referable to the upper air-passages. In bronchitis 
there will also be a forcible effort ; the mucus is viscid ; and the 
membrane of the tubes is thickened ; and the passage is diminished ; 
and considerable force must be used to urge on a volume of air, and 
to carry the mucus before it ; but it is a force which acts slowly, and 
by pressure, for the membrane being inflamed is tender. The cough 
shows pain ; it is no longer full and perfect ; it is slowly performed, 
and at the same time husky and wheezing, and the mucus rattles in 
the passage as it is forced along. In pneumonia the cough is fre- 
quent — sore ; but it is not so sore as in bronchitis, for it has not the 
same inflamed membrane to pass over ; it is, however, painful, for 
the substance of the lung is inflamed, and therefore it is low, and, to 
a certain degree, suppressed. In pleurisy, the cough is sharper, 
spasmodic, yet not loud. Hitherto the pain has been confined to the 
lungs ; here the lining membrane of the chest is affected, and intense 
pain felt at every rising and falling of the chest ; therefore the cough 
is short — it is cut short — it is somewhat spasmodic, and yet no louder 
than can be helped. 

The cough of incipient consumption is an inward, feeble, painful, 
hoarse, rattling, gurgling one. It reveals fearful disorganization, 
which can seldom be repaired. The process of disorganization is not 
rapid. Weeks and months, or, under favorable circumstances, years, 
may pass on, and few other symptoms be added to this peculiar 
cough. 

Here is disorganization of the lungs — disorganization which may 
12* 



274 CATTLE. 

in a few cases, be repaired, but in tbe great majority of them will 
proceed to its fatal termination. It is a disorganization which does 
not immediately interfere with the discharge of the functions of life. 
The beast will fatten, and, perhaps, almost as rapidly as before. In 
some cases it has been imagined that by careful feeding, a very con- 
siderable degree of condition has been acquired with unusual quick- 
ness ; but this will not last long. The effect of diseased structure, 
and diminished substance of the lungs, will soon tell in the unthrifti- 
ness and loss of condition of the beast. It will not be prudent to 
attempt any medical treatment at all, or at least beyond that of a 
mere palliative nature. 

If any thing is to be done, bleeding will be here, as in other in- 
flammatory cases, the first step, but pursued in a more cautious man- 
ner than in any of the others — never pushed beyond the very first 
indication of its proper effect, nor repeated until after due considera- 
tion, and a full conviction that renewed irritation is beginning to be 
set up. To this must be added mild doses of physic, and the use of 
the sedative medicines ; with proper care that the animal is not un- 
necessarily exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather, and yet avoid- 
ing too' much nursing. 

If treatment be tried, there is one circumstance and one only, 
which will enable one to understand the real ground, and that is, the 
character of the cough, which will still remain, although much less 
frequent. Is it the clear, sonorous cough which indicates the com- 
parative healthiness of the air-passages, or does it continue to be, to 
a greater or less degree, painful, inward, feeble, and gurgling ? If 
the latter, the amendment is delusive. It is one of those temporary 
rallyings of nature, or transient effects of medicine, which are some- 
times witnessed ; or, perhaps there has been some salutary change 
of atmospheric influence : but there is mischief still — and the most 
salutary advice would be, to dispose of .the animal while something 
like its value can be obtained. Weeks, months may pass on ; but by- 
and-by — the symptoms of confirmed phthisis appear, and the animal 
is lost. 

This second, and more violent attack, has many symptoms similar 
to those that have been described as attending the latter stages of 
bronchitis or pleurisy ; but there are a few which would point out 
the nature and seat of the disease when there is no previous history 
of the case to guide the practitioner. The milk gradually diminishes, 
and, had it been examined before its diminution, an evident deterioration 
in quality would have been .observed ; it has acquired an unpleasant 
flavor — it quickly becomes sour — it spoils, or gives a peculiar taste 
to that with which it is mixed. The butter that is made from it is 
ill-flavored, and the cheese will not acquire a proper consistence. 
Some have said that the milk is of a blue color, and that it has more 
serum in its composition than ordinary and healthy milk. 



PHTHISIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 275 

When consumption begins to be confirmed, the animal loses flesh 
with greater or less rapidity, and becomes weak. She eats with 
almost undiminished appetite ; but the process of rumination re- 
quiring long, and now fatiguing action of the jaws, is slowly and 
lazily performed. There is frequently a discharge from the mouth 
or nostrils, or both ; at first colorless and without smell, but soon 
becoming purulent, bloody, and fetid. Diarrhoea is present, and 
that to a degree on which the most powerful astringents can make 
no impression. Then, also, appears the inflammation of the tissue 
beneath the skin. Whatever part of the animal is pressed upon, 
she shrinks ; and if upon the loins, she moans with pain. The skin 
becomes dry and scaly ; and it strangely creaks as the animal crawls 
staggering along. 

One circumstance is very remarkable and characteristic. The 
mind and animal desires even of this comparatively dull and in- 
sensible being are roused to an extreme degree of intensity. The 
cow is, in many cases, almost continually in heat. When she is 
impregnated, the oestrum does not go off; and the consequence of 
this continuance of excitement is that she is very subject to abor- 
tion. 

One of the causes of consumption, almost unsuspected by many 
breeders, and sufficiently guarded against only by a few — heredi- 
tary predisposition — cannot be spoken of in too strong terms. It is 
rare that the offspring of a consumptive cow is not also consumptive. 
If it be a heifer-calf, she may possibly live a little after her first calv- 
ing, and then she usually sickens, and the disease proceeds with a 
rapidity unknown in the mother. 

Change of climate is a frequent cause. Some dairymen are aware 
how much depends on the cow being suited to the climate, or, 
rather, being in her native climate. This explains the strange differ- 
ence of opinion with regard to breeds. Almost every farmer is 
partial to his own breed, and undervalues those of other districts, 
and even those of his neighbors ; and, to a very great degree, he is 
right. His cattle breathe their native air ; they are in a climate to 
which, by a slow and most beneficial process, and extending through 
many a generation back, their constitution has been in a manner 
moulded ; and it is only after a long seasoning, and sometimes one 
attended by no little peril, that the stranger becomes at home in a 
foreign district, and so adapted and reconciled to the temperature, 
and degree of dryness or moisture, and to the difference of soil and 
herbage, as to do quite as well, and yield ac much and as good milk, 
as in the vale in which she was reared. 

Experience teaches that a change of climate involving a material 
difference in temperature, or soil, or herbage, is frequently prejudicial ; 
and that while there is derangement in every system, the respiratory 
one seems to suffer most, and a slow, insidious, yet fatal change is 



276 CATTLE. 

there oftenest effected. If a dairy of cows be removed from a moist 
situation to a dry and colder one, consumption will often appear 
among them, although a dry air is otherwise esteemed a specific 
against the complaint ; but if they be taken from a dry situation, 
and put on a woody and damp one, phthisis is sure to appear before 
the first season is past. 

There is one striking fact, showing the injurious effect of heated 
and empoisoned air on the pulmonary system. There are some cow- 
houses in which the heat is intense, and the inmates are often in a 
state of profuse perspiration. The doors and the windows must 
sometimes be opened, and then the wind blows in cold enough upon 
those that are close to them, and, one would naturally think, could 
not fail of being injurious. No such thing. These are the animals 
who escape ; but the others, at the farther end, on whom no wind 
blows, and where no perspiration is checked, are the first to have 
hoose, inflammation, and consumption. This fact speaks volumes 
with regard to the management on many a farm. 

In dismissing the diseases of the respiratory system, the author is 
far more disposed to direct attention to the preventive than the medi- 
cal treatment. By the former one may do much. Let the over- 
filled cow-houses be enlarged, and the close and hot ones be better 
ventilated ; let neglect, and exposure, and starvation yield to more 
judicious and humane treatment ; when cattle are fed on dry food, 
let them have sufficient to drink two or three times every day ; let 
those that exhibit decided symptoms of consumption be removed from 
the dairy, not because the disease is contagious, but because it is 
undeniably hereditary ; and, where so little can be done in the way 
of cure, let nothing be omitted in the way of prevention. 

Iodine possesses power to arrest the growth of tubercles in the 
lungs, and even to disperse them when recently formed. It may 
not be a specific for phthisis or consumption in cattle, but it has 
saved some that would otherwise have perished, and, for a while, 
prolonged the existence and somewhat restored the condition of more. 
Let the proprietor of cattle, and more especially practitioners, study 
closely the symptoms of phthisis, as detailed, and make themselves 
masters of the inward, feeble, painful, hoarse, gurgling cough of con- 
sumption, and as soon as they are assured that this termination or 
consequence of catarrh, or pneumonia, or pleurisy, begins to have 
existence — that tubercles have been formed, and, perhaps, have be- 
gun to suppurate — let them have recourse to the iodine, in the form 
of the hydriodate of potash, given in a small mash, in doses of three 
grains, morning and evening, at the commencement of the treatment, 
and gradually increased to six or eight grains. To this should be 
added proper attention to comfort ; yet not too much nursing ; and 
free access to succulent, but not stimulating, food ; and the medicine 
should be continued not only until the general condition of the beast 



PHTHISIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 277 

begins to improve, but until the character of the cough has been es- 
sentially changed. 

Homoeopathic Treatment. — Nitrum, given at the commencement 
of the disease, which, no doubt, is then difficult of recognition, pro- 
duces good effects, being employed alternately with sulphur. If the 
phthisis has already become more developed, much good may be 
obtained from stannum and phosphorus. Mercurius vivus has also 
been proposed alternately with hepar sulphuris. Colchicum is useful 
for the relief of the state of meteorization or formation of gas in the 
stomach, which often accompanies phthisis. 



278 CATTLE. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE STRUCTURE AND DISEASES OF THE GULLET AND STOMACHS. 
THE OESOPHAGUS, OR GULLET. 

The food having been forced along the posterior part of the mouth 
by the consecutive action of the tongue and the muscles of the 
pharynx, reaches the oesophagus, or gullet. This tube extends from 
the mouth to the stomachs, and conveys the food from the one to 
the other. In cattle this is true in a double sense ; for not only does 
the food descend from the mouth to one of the stomachs, when it is 
first gathered, but is returned for a second mastication, and after- 
wards, a third time, traces the same path to its destination in the 
true digestive stomach. There is some peculiarity of structure in 
the oesophagus, in order to prepare it for this increased duty. 

We first observe the great thickness and strength of the gullet in 
the ox. The outer coat of loose cellular substance is yielding and 
elastic. The second coat is a muscular one, and of great substance 
and power. Its increased substance enables it to dilate, when the 
large pellets of rapidly plucked grass, or pieces of parsnip or potato, 
or other hard roots, enter it ; and the. same increase of muscular 
substance enables it to contract more powerfully on such food, and 
pass it on to the stomach. There are two layers of muscles in the 
oullet of all our domesticated animals, and the fibres of the outer 
and inner layer run in different directions, and with plain and mani- 
fest reference to the natural food and habits of the animal. 

The fibres of both layers of the muscular coat are spiral, but they 
wind their wav round the gullet in contrary directions, admitting 
thus of the lengthening and shortening of the tube in grazing and 
swallowing ; offering, perhaps not so much pressure on the food, 
and which the lazy mastication and rumination of the animal does 
not require ; and permitting a great deal more dilitation when some 
large and hard substance finds its way into the gullet. 

The inner coat, a continuation of the membrane of the pharynx, 
is quite cuticuhir, smooth, and glistening. It lies in longitudinal 
plaits, so wide and numerous as sufficiently to dilate when the food 
passes, and to add very little to the obstacle when a portion of food 
unusually large is arrested in its passage. 



THE (ESOPHAGUS, OR PROBANG. 279 

The gullet pursues its course down the neck on the left of the 
windpipe, until it reaches the chest. It enters with the windpipe 
and blood-vessels through the opening between the two first ribs, 
and then winds its way along the upper part, until it reaches the 
diaphragm, which it pierces, and then soon terminates in a singular 
canal, which will presently be described. 

OBSTRUCTION IN THE GULLET. 

This is commonly called choking. When a beast is first put on 
carrots, or parsnips, or potatoes, or turnips, he is very apt to be 
choked. The first mastication is always a very careless affair, and 
everything that is put before the animal is swallowed with very little 
chewing. If the herdsman has not been attentive in slicing or 
bruising the roots, mischief of this kind is likely to happen. It hap- 
pens often when eggs, to promote condition in cattle, are given 
whole, or loaded with tar, or some nauseous drug, in cases of blain, 
hoose, mawsick, or other supposed stomach complaints. 

When the root sticks in the gullet, and can be evidently seen and 
felt there, the farmer or the cowherd first gets his cart-whip — in 
good hands not a dangerous instrument, on account of its being plia- 
ble and yielding ; others take a cart-rope, which is somewhat more 
objectionable, because the ends may do mischief. They who have 
neither good sense nor regard for the sufferings they may inflict, 
take even a common rack-stick. Whatever it be, they thrust it down 
the gullet and work away might and main, to drive the offending 
body down. 

There is no doubt that some instrument should be introduced into 
the gullet, in order to push the root into the stomach, but it is the 
force that is used to which we object, and that does all the mischief. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE C3S0PHAGUS PROBANG. 

Every farmer should have a flexible probang ready for use, either 
of the improved kind, as contrived by Mr. Read, or on the plan of 
that which was first introduced by Dr. Monro. 

The cut on p. 280 will give a sufficient idea of the construction of 
the most useful probang, or cesophagus-tube. 

Fig. 1. a. The tube, made either of simple leather, or of leather 
covering a canal formed of spiral wire. It is about four feet and a 
half in length, so as to reach from the mouth to the rumen, and 
leaving a sufficient portion outside the mouth for it to be firmly 
grasped. 

b. The stilett, represented as introduced into the tube, and run- 
ning the whole length of it. It gives greater firmness and strength 
to the tube, when it is either passed into the stomach in cases of 
hoove, or used to force anything down the gullet. 

c. The handle of the stilett. 



280 



CATTLE. 



d. A hollow piece of wood running freely upon the stilett, and 
placed between the handle of the stilett and the round extremity of 
the tube. The stilett is longer than the tube by the extent of this 
piece of wood, but is prevented from protruding beyond the bulb of 
the tube at the other end, by the interposition of this slider at the 
handle. The stilett may be introduced at either end of the tube. 
It is usually inserted at e, when the instrument is used to force any 
obstructing body down the throat, because the enlarged and bulbous 
termination of the tube at the other end has a fiat or rather concave 
surface, and can therefore act with more effect and power on the 
substance which sticks in the throat. 



dtitf L 




e. The end of the tube which is introduced into the paunch in 
cases of hoove. Its rounded extremity will permit it to be more 
easily forced through the roof of the paunch, and it is perforated 
with holes for the escape of the gas with which the paunch may be 
distended. 

Fig. 2 represents the whalebone stilett, with the hollow piece of 
wood running upon it, and shows how easily it may be withdrawn 
from the stilett when that is taken out of the tube. The runnino- 
piece of wood being withdrawn, if the handle of the stilett be then 
pushed down on the bulb of the tube, a portion of it will project at 
the other end ; and by moving the stilett up and down in the tube, 
this may be made to act on the obstructing body, in the manner and 
with somewhat of the force of a hammer. 

Fig. 3 will be presently described. 

Fig. 4 is a piece of thick strong wood, widest at the centre, ana 
there perforated. It is introduced into the mouth in order to keep 
it open during the use of the probang, which is inserted through the 
hole in the centre. Leathern straps are nailed to the extremities : 
these are buckled round the horns, and by means of them this mouth- 
piece is securely fastened ; while one of the extremities, being grasped 



OPERATION FOR OBSTRUCTION IN THE GULLET. 281 

by the operator, forms a very useful point of support during the use 
of the tube. The farmer should also have another mouth-piece, with 
a central hole that will admit of the passage of a small hand. He 
will thus be enabled to get at and to remove substances that have 
not descended beyond the commencement of the gullet, or that have 
been returned so far by means to be hereafter described. This mouth- 
piece will be very useful in cases of polypus in the nose and many 
diseases of the pharynx ; but it would be too large to be long con- 
tinued in the mouth without great pain to the animal, nor could the 
probang be so securely or effectually worked through so extensive an 
aperture. It is high time that those rude, dangerous, and ineffectual 
instruments — the cart-whip, and the cart-rope, and the rack-stick — 
should be banished from the practice of the veterinary surgeon, and 
discarded by the farmer too. 

MODE OF OPERATING FOR THE REMOVAL OF SUBSTANCES OBSTRUCTING 

THE GULLET. 

If a cow has swallowed a potato, or turnip, too large to descend 
the gullet, and which is arrested in its progress, and evidently seen 
at a certain distance down the throat, the farmer should have imme- 
diate recourse to the cesophagus-tube, introducing the natter end 
into the throat, and using moderate force. If the obstructing body 
yield to this, he will be justified in pushing it on within the chest; 
but if, with the application of a fair degree of force, it is very sloAvly 
and with difficulty pushed on, ttie operator should instantly relin- 
quish the determination to drive it down, for the fibres of the mus- 
cular coat of the gullet soon become irritated by the continued 
distension, and contract powerfully, and, as it were, spasmodically, 
upon the foreign body, and imprison it there. It should also be re- 
membered that the gullet itself becomes smaller as soon as it has 
entered the thorax ; afid, consequently, that which can be moved 
only with difficulty in the upper part of the neck, will not be moved 
at all in the lower portion of it. 

The next consideration then is, whether, although the obstructing 
body cannot be driven on, it may not be solicited, or forced back- 
ward. The fibres of the upper part of the gullet have already 
yielded, and suffered this substance to pass them — they are some- 
what weakened by the unnatural distension — they have not yet had 
time to recover their tone, and they may yield again. It is at least 
worth the trial. 

The internal coat of the oesophagus is naturally smooth and 
glistening ; it may, however, be made more so, and the surface of 
the obstructing body may be polished too. A half-pint of olive oil 
should be poured down the throat, and an attempt then made with 
the fingers, applied externally, to give the body a retrograde motion. 
By patient manipulation this will be effected much oftener than is 



282 CATTLE. 

imagined. The intruding substance will be dislodged from the situa- 
tion in which it was impacted, and will be brought to the upper part 
of the oesophagus, or even into the pharynx, and will then be some- 
times got rid of by the efforts of the beast itself, or may be easily 
drawn out by means of a hand introduced through the large mouth- 
piece to which reference was made in the explanation of the ceso- 
phagus-tube. 

If the obstructing body cannot be moved in this way, we are not 
yet without resource. Mr. Read has made an important improve- 
ment on, or addition to, the cesophagus-tube, in the form of a cork- 
screw. Vide fig. 3, in the preceding cut. 

a. The leather tube, as before, but somewhat larger, and longer, 
and stronger ; and the upper part of it, for the purpose of additional 
strength, composed of brass. 

b. The handle of the stilett, which runs through it, as through the 
other tube. 

c. One of two pieces of wood placed between the handle and the 
tube ; hollowed so as to fit the stilett ; removable in a moment, and, 
like the hollow piece of wood in the other tube, permitting the stilett 
to be two or three inches longer than the tube. They are here 
removed, and one of them hangs down, suspended by a string. 

d. The bulb which is introduced through the mouth-piece, and 
forced down the gullet. It is considerably larger than those at the 
ends of the other tube, but not so large as the distended gullet. 

e. A corkscrew fixed to the end of the stilett, and which, coming 
out in the centre of the knob, cannot possibly wound the gullet. 

When this instrument is used, the stilett is pulled up so that the 
screw is perfectly retracted and concealed within the knob. The 
pieces of wood, c, are placed upon the stilett, between the handle 
and the top of the tube, and tied there, so that the screw is now fixed 
within the knob ; and the instrument is introduced through the 
mouth-piece, and forced down the throat until it reaches the obstruc- 
tion. The pieces of wood are then untied, and, by turning the han- 
dle, the screw is worked into the obstructing body, as the common 
corkscrew is into a cork in the neck of a bottle. If the potato or 
turnip be fresh and sound, it would hardly be credited what purchase 
is obtained, and in how many instances the nuisance may be drawn 
up the throat and got rid of. If the centre of the root should give 
way, and a portion of it only be brought out, there is still some good 
done, and the screw should be returned again and again, until it will 
no longer take hold. By this time, probably, the root will have been 
so weakened and broken down that it will yield to the pressure of the 
first probang, and be forced along into the rumen ; or at least it will 
be so weakened, that the stilett of the first tube may be used with 
advantage. 

The stilett must be withdran from the tube, and the running piece 



OPERATION FOR OBSTRUCTION IN THE GULLET. 283 

of wood taken away ; the stilett is then returned to its sheath, and 
may be made to project a couple of inches beyond the knob. It is 
retracted, and the tube is passed into the throat ; when it will be 
evident that the operator may use either the comparatively broad 
part of the knob, or the small and sharp stilett, as the case may seem 
to require. To the first he can only apply simple pressure — to the 
stilett he can give a percussive action. By sharply pushing down the 
handle of the stilett, he will make the other end act with the power 
of a little hammer, and thus may break down, and probably work 
through, the centre of the root, as in the case which has been 
just related. A perforation having been made through the centre, 
and the obstruction having been previously torn and weakened by the 
screw, the whole may gradually be broken down, or will more readily 
yield to pressure. 

These directions have been founded on the supposition that tne 
foreign body is lodged in the gullet above the entrance into the 
thorax ; and if the operator fails in all these contrivances, perhaps he 
will now admit, although reluctantly, the application of external force. 
It has been recommended to place a small piece of wood against the 
gullet, and in contact with that portion of the skin which covers the 
obstructing body, and then, with a wooden mallet, to hammer away 
against the opposite side. The root has been thus occasionally 
broken down, and then forced on with the cart-whip ; but more 
frequently the beast has been sadly punished, without any good effect 
having been produced ; and, in some instances, although the nuisance 
was for a while got rid of, so much tenderness of the gullet remained, 
and inflammation arose, and ran to such an extent, that the animal 
did not regain its appetite for many weeks afterwards, or pined away, 
and became comparatively worthless. The practitioner will, therefore, 
unwillingly have recourse to this, and will be justified in first seeing 
what bleeding will do. There is not a more powerful relaxant than 
bleeding — and especially when it is carried on, if necessary, to abso- 
lute fainting. For awhile every spasmodic action ceases, and every 
muscular fibre loses its power to contract. The operator will, proba- 
bly, take advantage of the momentary relaxation, in order to force 
the body either upward or downward — upward first, and by far in 
preference ; or if downward, yet still cautiously balancing in his 
mind the degree of resistance with the chance of ultimate success ; 
for, if the resistance continues to be considerable, he may depend 
upon it that when he has arrived at the thorax, all further efforts will 
be fruitless, and the patient will be lost. 

He has one last resource, and he needs not to be so afraid of ven- 
turing upon it. There is the operation of oesophagotomy , or the cut- 
ting down upon the obstruction, and thus removing it. The veteri- 
nary surgeon will never find, or ought never to find, difficulty here. 
After having passed a little way down the neck, the oesophagus is 



284 CATTLE. 

found on the left of the trachea, and between the carotid and the 
jugular. The artery will he detected by its pulsation, and the vein 
by its turgescence. The only muscle that can be in danger is the 
sterno-maxillaris, and that may, in a very great majority of cases, be 
avoided, or, if it be wounded, no great mischief will ensue. 

The animal should be cast, (at least this is the safest way, as it 
regards both the operator and the patient.) It should be thrown on 
the right side, and the head should be a little stretched out, but 
lying as flat as the horns will permit. The place of obstruction will 
be seen at once. An incision is by some persons made immediately 
into the gullet, sufficiently long for the extraction of the root. The 
safer way, however, is for the cellular substance to be a little dissected 
away before the gullet is opened, when, if the incision be long enough, 
the incarcerated body will readily escape. The edges of the oesopha- 
gus should then be brought together, and confined by two or three 
stitches ; the skin should also have the same number passed through 
it, the ends of the stitches of the gullet having been brought through 
the external wound. The beast should have nothing but gruel for 
two or three days ; and, after that, gruel and mashes for a little while 
longer. In a fortnight or three weeks the wound will generally be 
healed, and scarcely a trace of the incision will be visible. 

If the obstruction be not observed, or the practitioner not called in 
until the potato or parsnip has passed into that portion of -the gullet 
which is within the thorax, the chances of saving the animal are 
materially diminished. The common probang should first be tried, 
and, that failing, the corkscrew should be resorted to, either to draw 
the body out, or so to pierce it and break it down, that it may be 
forced onward either by the stilett or the knob. The practitioner 
should, if necessary, use all the force he can ; for, if the obstruction 
be not overcome, the animal will assuredly perish. 

It has often been observed, and with much truth, that cows, in 
whose gullet this obstruction has once taken place, are subject to it 
afterwards. Either they had a habit of voracious feeding, or the 
muscles are weakened by this spasmodic action, and not able to con- 
tract upon the food with sufficient force for the ordinary purposes of 
deglutition. It will therefore generally be prudent to part with the 
cow that has once suffered from an accident of this kind. 

STRICTURE OF THE CESOPHAGUS. 

This rarely occurs in cattle. The writer of this treatise has met 
with only one marked case of it. The food occasionally accumulated 
in the upper part of the gullet until there was a swelling eight or ten 
inches in length, terminating in an evident contraction of the oesopha- 
gus. He passed a probang through the stricture, as large as, without 
too great violence, he could manage, and confined it there for an hour, 



RUPTURE OF THE (ESOPHAGUS. 



285 



by means of tapes. This was done for a few days, when a larger 
probang was used. The food accumulated less frequently, and, soon 
after, ceased to accumulate at all. 

RUPTURE OF THE OESOPHAGUS. 

In cases of laceration, or rupture of the gullet, which too frequently 
follow the violent attempts of unskillful persons to force down the 
obstructing body, something might be done if the mischief were 
immediately ascertained. Prudence, however, would dictate the 
sacrifice of the animal, while it could be fairly sold to the butcher. 




If the cure be undertaken, the part must be opened — the foreign 
body liberated from the cellular texture into which it had probably 
been driven — all the dirt and indigested matter cleared carefully 
away — the ragged and lacerated edges cut off — the divided portions 



286 CATTLE. 

brought as neatly and as closely together as possible — and the whole 
secured by bandages passed several times round the neck ; while the 
animal is allowed gruel only for many days, and then mashes. The 
dressing should be the healing ointment, daily applied. The power 
of nature is great ; and, the foreign body having been removed before 
it could cause inflammation and mortification by its presence, the 
parts may be reinstated to every useful purpose. 

THE OESOPHAGUS WITHIN THE THORAX. 

As the oesophagus approaches the chest, it takes a direction more 
and more toward the left, and enters it on that side of the windpipe. 
It is there found between the laminae of the mediastinum, following 
the direction of the dorsal vertebrae. It passes by the base of the 
heart, leaving the venae cavae on the right, and the aorta on the left. 
It by degrees separates itself from the spine, penetrating between 
the lungs, and, pursuing its course toward the diaphragm, passes 
through the great opening .between the crura of that muscle. As it 
travels through the mediastinum and between the lungs, it diminishes 
in size, and acquires considerable firmness of texture ; but it has no 
sooner entered the abdomen, and begun to dip downward, than it 
becomes more muscular, and less firm in its structure. It also rapidly 
increases in size until it assumes almost the shape of a funnel ; and 
terminates directly in no particular stomach, but in a canal which 
opens into all the stomachs, of which, as will be seen, the ruminant 
possesses four. 

Recourse must be had to a few cuts, in order to render this in- 
telligible to the reader. 

The cut in the preceding page will exhibit the form of the sto- 
machs when filled, their relative situations, and their connection with 
each other. 

a. The oesophagus gradually enlarging as it descends, and appa- 
rently running into the rumen or paunch, but, in fact, terminating 
in a canal. 

b. A continuation of the spiral muscles of the oesophagus, thicker 
and more powerful as they approach the termination of that tube. 

Before proceeding to the consideration of the other parts delinea- 
ted in that cut, let us take a different view of the structure and 
termination of the gullet. (See cut on page 288.) 

a. The oesophagus, enlarging as it descends, and oecoming more 
muscular, and particularly the upper and posterior part of it. The 
continuation of it along the stomachs is slit up, in order to show that 
it would form the continuous roof of the canal which is here laid 
open, and which leads to the third and fourth stomachs. 

b. The cesophagean canal, exposed by slitting the roof from the 
termination of the gullet to the third stomach. A considerable part 
of the floor is composed of two muscular pillars, lying close to each 



THE (ESOPHAGUS WITHIN THE THORAX. 287 

other. It would therefore appear, at first inspection, to be a perfect 
canal, and that what descended into it from the gullet would run 
on to the third and fourth stomachs. These pillars are duplicatures 
of the roof of the first and second stomachs, which lie immediately 
underneath them. 

c is the continuation of the same canal into and through the 
manyplus, or third stomach, which is known by its leaves and thin 
hooked edges. 

d is a prolongation of the same canal into the fourth, or true di- 
gestive stomach. It is easy therefore to perceive that the food, 
whether solid or fluid, may, at the will of the animal, or under par- 
ticular circumstances of the constitution, pass into the third and 
fourth stomachs, without a particle of it entering into the first or 
second ; and we know that this is the case with the food after it has 
undergone the process of rumination, or a second mastication. 




The following cut will give another view of the same parts. 

a is again the oesophagus, terminating in the cesophagean canal. 

b is, as before, the cesophagean canal ; but now, at the will of the 
animal, or under certain states of the constitution, these pillars are no 
longer in contact with each other, but there is a large opening at the 
bottom of the oesophagus, displaying the two first stomachs lying 
under them. 

c is the rumen, or paunch, or first stomach, placed immediately 
under the termination of the gullet, and substances descending that 
tube fall through this opening, and are received into it. All the food 
when first swallowed, goes there, to be preserved for the act of rumi- 
nation ; and a portion, and occasionally the greatest portion, of the 
fluids that pass down the gullet, enters the rumen. Farther on, at 

d, is the reticulum, or second stomach. From the state of that 
stomach, or at the will of the animal, the muscular pillars here also 
relax, seldom or never to permit that which is passing alon^ the 
cesophagean canal to enter the reticulum, but that the contents of 
the reticulum may be thrown into the oesophagean canal. This is 



288 



CATTLE. 



the case when the pellet of food is returned for remastication — it is 
thrown into the canal from the reticulum — it is seized by the power- 
ful muscles at the base of the gullet, and carried up by the spiral 
muscles of that tube in order to be remasticated. It will be seen the 
upper pillar (situated towards the right in the living subject), and 
the lower part of the opening made by the relaxation of the pillars, 
belong to the reticulum ; the lower pillar and the anterior portion 
of the opening (situated towards the left) belong to the roof of the 
rumen. This is very satisfactorily seen in the dried stomach of a 
young calf. 




e is the manyplus, or third stomach, and through which the canal 
is still to be traced to 

b, the abomasum, or fourth, or true digesting stomach. So that, 
as was asserted, this canal leads to no particular stomach exclusively, 
but to all of them according to circumstances. 

We are now, perhaps, prepared to return to the consideration of 
the first cut (p. 285). 

c c represent the form of this stomach in the greater part of rumi- 
nants, and particularly in oxen and sheep. It is situated somewhat 
obliquely in the abdominal cavity, and occupies nearly three-fourths 
of it. It is divided into two unequal compartments, or sacs, and 
reaches from the diaphragm to the pelvic cavity. By its superior 
surface it is attached to the sublumbar region by its vessels, nerves, 
and a portion of mesentery. On the right side it is covered by a 
portion of the intestines ; on the left side it is more elevated, and 
is in contact with the left flank. It is on this account that we 
are sometimes induced to adopt the unsurgical mode of giving relief 
in cases of hoove ; for when we plunge our lancet or knife into the 



THE EXTERIOR OF THE STOMACHS. 289 

left flank, we puncture the distended stomach. Its inferior surface 
rests upon the floor of the belly. The left side reaches to the dia- 
phragm, and thence, under the left flank, to the pelvis. The right 
side rests on the floor of the abdomen, and is covered by the fourth 
stomach. The anterior extremity is attached to the diaphragm by 
the oesophagus, and by the cardiac ligament ; and the right ex- 
tremity floats free, generally occupying the pelvis, but pushed thence 
in the latter period of gestation. 

Deep scissures not only divide it into two lobes, as has been men- 
tioned, but another scissure posteriorly, which will be shown in the 
next cut, forms it into two others ; so that its interior presents four 
compartments, separated from each by deeply projecting duplica- 
tures of the walls of the stomach. 

This cut represents two of the three coats of the rumen. 

The external, or peritoneal, coat is here represented as turned 
back at different places, in order to show the muscular coat, which 
consists of two layers, the one running longitudinally and the other 
transversely ; yet not accurately so, for they appear to run obliquely, 
and in many different directions, according to the varying curvatures 
of the stomach. A very erroneous opinion of this great macerating 
stomach would be formed by considering it as a mere passive reser- 
voir in which the food is contained until it is wanted for rumination : 
it is in constant motion ; the food is perpetually revolving through 
its different compartments, and undergoing important preparation for 
future digestion. These muscles are the mechanical agents by 
which this is effected, and by running in these different directions 
they are enabled to act upon all the differently formed cells of this 
enormous viscus. 

d. The reticulum, or honey-comb, or second stomach, viewed ex- 
ternally, and supposed to be filled. It is a little curved upon itself 
from below upward, and is the smallest of all the stomachs. It rests 
against the diaphragm in front of the left sac of the rumen, and is 
placed under the oesophagus, and upon the abdominal prolongation 
of the sternum. There are two layers of muscles belonging to this 
stomach, one of them running longitudinally and the other trans- 
versely, as in the rumen. 

e gives the external appearance of the manyplus, or third stomach. 
It is less rounded, and longer than the reticulum. It is curved 
upon itself from above downward. Its little curvature is applied 
on the left, partly over the reticulum, and more on the paunch ; and 
on the right it is placed over the base of the fourth stomach. 
It is situated obliquely from the right side of the abdomen, be- 
tween the liver and the right sac of the rumen. Girard thus de- 
scribes it : — " Its anterior face rests against the liver and the dia- 
phragm — its posterior is placed over the right sac of the rumen. 
Its great, rounded, convex curvature is attached to the fourth 
13 



290 CATTLE. 

stomach, and also to the rumen, by a prolongation of mesentery ; 
and its little curvature is continuous with that of the reticulum." 

Figs. 1 and 2 represent the two layers of muscles, as before. 

/. The abomasum, or fourth stomach, is elongated, and of a cone- 
like form, yet somewhat bent into an arch, situated obliquely to the 
right of and behind the manyplus, and between the diaphragm and 
the right sac of the rumen. It has two free or unattached faces, one 
against the diaphragm and the other against the right sac of the 
rumen — two curvatures, the inferior and larger convex, and giving 
attachment along its inner border to a portion of mesentery, which 
extends to the inferior scissures of the rumen ; and the superior or 
smaller, receiving the portions of mesentery which go from the reti- 
culum to the superior scissures of the rumen. It is also said to have 
two extremities, the one anterior, which is the larger, and placed 
inferiorly, adhering to the smaller curvature of the manyplus, and 
constituting the base, or great extremity of the abomasum ; and the 
posterior and superior, which is narrow, elongated, curved above and 
backward on the superior face of the right sac of the rumen, and 
called the smaller or pyloric extremity. 

A dissection of the muscular coat is given here, as in the other 
stomachs. 

g represents the commencement of the duodenum, or first intestine. 

The reader is now prepared for the consideration of the interior of 
these stomachs. 

a. The oesophagus, as before, enlarging, and assuming a funnel - 
like shape as it approaches the stomachs. 

b. The oesophagus, cut open at the commencement of the oesopha- 
geal canal, in order to show its communication with the first and 
second stomachs. 

c. The rumen, laid open and divided into its different compart- 
ments by scissures, more or less deep, and which on the internal 
surface appear as indentations, or duplicatures of the coats of the 
stomach. They are recognized under the name of the double-tripe 
when prepared for the table. The rumen is divided into two large 
sacs, seen in the cut of the external form of the stomachs (p. 285,) 
and the walls that separate them are thick, and perpendicular to 
the surface of the stomach, so as to form a very considerable separa- 
tion between the compartments of the stomach. These again are 
subdivided by transversal bands, which form smaller compartments. 
Two, belonging to the posterior portion of the stomach, are given in 
this cut. There are similar divisions in the anterior sac, but which 
are here concealed by one of the folds of the stomach. 

The whole of the rumen is covered by a cuticular membrane, con- 
stituting the third or inner coat. Immediately under this, and arising 
from the interposed tissue between the muscular and cuticular coats, 
there are innumerable small prominences or papillae. They are of 



THE EXTERIOR. OF THE STOMACHS. 291 

different sizes and forms in different parts of the rumen. Toward the 
longitudinal bands or duplicatures they are small, and thinly set ; 
they are more numerous and larger toward the centre of the com- 
partments ; and largest of all in the bottom of the posterior and most 
capacious sac. In every part of the rumen they are more thickly 
set, and broad and strong toward the centre or bottom of each com- 
partment. They are also harder and blacker in these places. When 
regarded in different compartments, they appear to be bent or inclined 




in different directions ; but when they are more closely examined, 
they are all inclined in the direction which the food takes in its pass- 
age through the various divisions of the rumen. They are evidently 
erectile, and may sometimes bristle up and oppose the passage of the 
food ; while at other times they yield and bend, and suffer it to pass 
with little or no obstruction. Some have imagined that these are 
glandular bodies, and that they secrete a peculiar fluid ; others con- 
line the glandular apparatus to the tissue between the cuticular coat ; 



292 CATTLE. 

and numerous little prominences, which can be seen in the inflated 
stomach of a young ruminant when exposed to the light, are best 
accounted for by considering them as glandular bodies. 

There are two openings into the rumen ; the one already spoken of, 
at the base of the oesophagus, and through which the substances 
gathered at the first cropping of the food, and perhaps all solids, fall, 
and a considerable proportion of the liquids are swallowed. The other 
opening is below this. It is larger and always open ; it communicates 
with the second stomach ; but there is a semilunar fold of the rumen, 
that runs obliquely across it, and acts as a valve, so that nothing can 
pass from the first into the second stomach, except by some forcible 
effort ; and it is very seldom that anything is returned from the 
rumen directly into the oesophagus. 

Considering the size of the paunch, it has very few blood-vessels ; 
in fact, it has not much to do except macerating the food. The 
arteries are supplied by the splenics, which are of very great size in 
ruminants. The nerves are given out by the coeliac plexus. 

d. The reticulum, or second stomach. The cuticular coat here 
covers a very irregular surface, consisting of cells, shallower and 
wider than those of a honey-comb, but very much resembling them ; 
hence this stomach is sometimes called the honey-comb. Each of 
these divisions contains several smaller ones ; and at the base and 
along the sides of each are found numerous minute prominences, or 
papillae, which are evidently secreting glands. 

There are two openings into the stomach ; one through the floor 
of the cesophagean canal, one of the pillars of which is formed of a 
duplicature of the coats of the lesser curvature of the reticulum. 
The other is that already described, between this stomach and the 
rumen. 

The muscular coat of this stomach is thick and powerful, but the 
blood-vessels are not numerous, for it will hereafter appear that its 
functions are very simple. The arteries and nerves of the reticulum 
are derived from the same source as those of the rumen. 

e. The many plus, or third stomach. The internal structure of this 
stomach is very singular. The cesophagean canal changes its form 
and character at the commencement of the manyplus ; and the fleshy 
pillars, of which mention has been so often made, unite, forming a 
kind of obtuse angle. The floor of the canal is now perfect, and 
nothing can any longer fall into the stomachs beneath. A small 
circular aperture alone is left between them, which conducts to the 
third stomach, the floor of which is closed, but the roof is constructed 
in a remarkable way. The whole of the stomach contributes to form 
this roof ; and from it there descend numerous duplicatures of the 
cuticular coat, each duplicature containing within it cellular tissue, 
blood-vessels, and a thin but powerful layer of muscles. They are 
formed into groups. A long duplicature, resembling a leaf or cur- 



THE EXTERIOR OF THE STOMACHS. 293 

tain, hangs from the roof, and floats free in the stomach, and reaches 
nearly down to the floor. On either side of it is a shorter leaf, and 
beyond that a shorter still, until the outer leaf becomes very narrow. 
Then commences another group, with a long leaf in the centre, and 
others progressively shortening on each side, until the stomach is 
filled with these leaves, hanging down from every part of it, floating 
loosely about, and the lower edge of the longest of them reaching 
into the continuation of the oesophagean canal. 

The cuticular covering of these leaves is peculiarly dense and 
strong, and thickly studded with little prominences ; so that when 
the leaf is examined it exhibits a file-like hardness, that would scarcely 
be thought possible ; and it is evidently capable of acting like a file, 
or little grindstone. These prominences are larger and harder 
toward the lower part of the leaf ; and, in the central leaves, assume 
the form and office of little crotchets, or hooks, some of which have 
the hardness of horn, so that nothing solid or fibrous can escape 
them. 

These groups of leaves vary in number in different animals, and the 
number of leaves constituting each group vary too. They float 
thickest, and the canal is smallest, at the entrance into this stomach, 
where they are most wanted. Toward the fourth stomach the course 
is left more open. 

As would be expected, from the complicated mechanism of this 
stomach, it is more abundantly supplied with blood-vessels and w T ith 
nerves than the second, or even than the first, although that is many 
times larger than the third. 

f. The abomasum, or fourth stomach, is lined by a soft villous mem- 
brane, like the digestive portion of ordinary stomachs. It also 
contains a great number of folds, or leaves, somewhat irregularly 
placed, but running chiefly longitudinally. They are largest and most 
numerous at the upper and wider part of the stomach ; and one of the 
folds, in particular, is placed at the entrance into the abomasum, yield- 
ing to the substances which pass from the third stomach into the fourth, 
and leaving, as it were, a free and open w T ay, but opposing an almost 
perfect valvular obstruction to their return. This explains the reason 
why vomiting is so rare in the ruminant ; and that when it does 
occur, it must be produced by such violent spasmodic efforts as to 
cause or indicate the approach of death. See g and h. p. 288. 

Toward the lower and narrower part of the stomach these folds 
are less numerous and of smaller size : they are also more irregular 
in the course which they take ; some of them running obliquely and 
even transversely. This coat of the stomach, when the animal is in 
health, is thickly covered with mucus, while, from innumerable glands, 
it secretes the gastric juice, or true digestive fluid. 

The pyloric or lower orifice of this stomach is guarded by a rounded 
projecting thick substance, by which the entrance into the intestine 



29-1 CATTLE. 

is much contracted, and which, indeed, partly discharges the function 
of a sphincter muscle. 

g is a portion of the duodenum, or first intestine. 

h. The place where the biliary and pancreatic ducts enter the 
duodenum. 

i. A stilett is here supposed to be passed through that portion of 
the cesophagean canal (the very beginning of it) through which the 
gullet communicates with the paunch. 

k. A stilett is here supposed to run through that part of the 
canal by means of which the gullet communicates with the second 
stomach. 

/. A stilett here passes below the last, and under the cesophagean 
canal, showing the situation of the direct communication between the 
rumen and the reticulum. 

7)i. The supposed direction of the cesophagean canal to the third 
stomach, over the roofs of the paunch and the second stomach. 

n. Its passage through the third stomach, and entrance into the 
fourth. 

THE CHANGES OP THE FOOD IN THE DIFFERENT STOMACHS. 

The ox rapidly and somewhat greedily crops the herbage, which 
undergoes little or no mastication, but being rolled into a pellet, and 
as it passes along the pharynx being somewhat enveloped by the 
mucus there secreted, is swallowed. The pellet, being hard and 
rapidly driven along by the action of the muscles of the oesophagus, 
falls upon the anterior portion of the oesophageal! canal, and its 
curiously formed floor ; and either by the force with which it strikes 
on these pillars, or by some instinctive influence, they are separated, 
and the pellet falls into the rumen, which is found immediately under 
the base of the gullet, as represented at c, p. 288, and i, p. 291. 
The food, however, which thus enters the rumen does not remain 
stationary in the place where it falls. It has been seen that the walls 
of this stomach are supplied with muscles of considerable power, and 
which run longitudinally and transversely, and in various directions 
all over it, and by means of them the contents of the paunch are 
gradually conveyed through all its compartments. At first the food 
travels with comparative rapidity, for the muscles of the stomach act 
strongly, and the papillae with which it is lined easily yield and suffer 
it to pass on ; but, the rumen being filled, or the animal ceasing to 
graze, the progress of the food is retarded. The muscles act with less 
power, and the contents of the stomach with greater difficulty find 
their way over the partitions of the different sacs, and, at the same 
time, probably, the papillae exert their erectile power, and oppose a 
new obstacle. 

If a considerable opening be cut into the flank, immediately over the 



TH-. HJ 

paunch, a swinging or bal a n cing motion of that stomach, both up- 
ward and "i and forward and backward, may be plainly 
seen 

The ones of the papillae seem nana ; they support the 

weight of the superincumbent food, nnmastieated, and liable to injure 
the eoat of the stomach, over which it is continually moving ; 
take ■ the follicular glands of the stomach that pressure 

which would reader it im possible for these glands to dis*. 
mucous lubricating fluid which is requisite for the protection of the 
stomach and the revolution of tr Jhe papilla are eonse- 

quer. umerous and larger and sti the eec 

a of each of the compartment* where the food would aeeanra- 
<ad press most; and they are more thinly scattered, and in some 
places almost disappear, where there is no c -.1 the pressure 

of the friction. In addition to all these, are the important functions 
of yielding and suffering the food to pa** unimpeded along, while the 
stomach h rapidly filling as the animal grazes, and then by their 
erectile power retarding that progress when the beast has ceased to 
eat, and the slow process of rumination has commenced. The glandu- 
lar bodies, to which allusion has been made, are most plentifully 
sttnated, and a sst size, on the upper part of the sides of the 

rumen, where they are least exposed to pressure, and may discharge 
the lubricating mucus which they secrete, without obstacle. 

The only change that takes place in the food in a healthy state 
ana 1 admi -.• v .- *tomadb ia (hat o! macer a ti on , and prrrtwwtffra for 
'..- ••: •-.•--: .-.-.a '. -.a-joa ai Hay be cat .;. prated bj tataae finajaj As 
month of a cow a pellet that has been returned for rumination, and 
which will be found to be merely the grass, or other I iber- 

wise altered than being softened, and covered wit- ,a of 

--...- '.':•:::•.. .. • •'.•■: r .:.■:■■ '^. :■ .-. l:\ -,■-.:■ '.\-:i -.■_-.■, 

but whenever the animal drinks,a portion of the water breaks through 
the pillars of the oesophageal canal, regulated in quantity eitr 
the will of the beast or by the sympathy of the pan* with the state 
and wants of the stomach, or with the state of the constitution 
generally. The rumen of a healthy ox always contains a considerable 
quantity of fluid. 

The food, having traversed all the compartments of this stomach, 
would arrive again at the point from which it started, were it not that 
a fold of the rumen arrests its coarse, and gfres it a somewhat 
different direction. This fold is placed at the spot where there exists 
a comm un i cat ion between the rumen and the reticulum, and which 
also is guarded by a fold or valve ; but the peristaltic motion of the 
stomach going on, and the food pressing from behind, a portion of it 
is at length, by a convulsive action, partly voluntary and partly 
involuntary, thrown over this fold into the reticulum. 

:■--. ■-■--.' :... -.: :■_■: ■-.:■ -.-. -..- ,;..-. -. ;.•.-_■...• .■_>.-. -, ; .-. 



296 CATTLE. 

described as divided into numerous honeycomb-formed cells (tbey are 
well represented at d, p. 291,) at the base of each of which are nu- 
merous small secretory glands, which also furnish a considerable 
quantity of mucus. The action of this stomach consists in first con- 
tracting upon its contents ; and, in doing this, it forms the portion 
just received from the rumen into the proper shape for its return up 
the oesophagus, and covers it more completely with mucus ; then, by 
a stronger and somewhat spasmodic action, it forces the pellet between 
the pillars at the floor of the oesophagean canal, where it is seized by 
the muscles, that are so powerful at the base of the oesophagus, and 
which extend over this part of the canal, and is conveyed to the 
mouth. The reticulum, expanding again, receives a new portion of 
food from the rumen, and which had been forced over the valve by 
the convulsive action of that viscus. 

It is curious to observe the manner in which these acts are per- 
formed. The cow, if lying, is generally found on her right side, in 
order that the intestines, which are principally lodged on that side, 
may not press upon and interfere with the action of the rumen. 
After a pellet that has undergone the process of rumination is swal- 
lowed, there is a pause of two or three seconds, during which the 
cow is making a slow and deep inspiration. By means of this the 
lungs are inflated and press on the diaphragm ; and the diaphragm 
in its turn presses on both the rumen and the reticulum, and assists 
their action, Suddenly the inspiration is cut short by an evident 
spasm ; it is the forcible ejection of the pellet from the reticulum, and 
of a fresh quantity of food over the valvular fold, to enter the reticulum 
as soon as it expands again. This spasmodic action is immediately 
followed by the evident passage of the ball up the oesophagus to the 
mouth. The spiral muscles of the oesophagus, with their fibres inter- 
lacing each other, are admirably suited to assist the ascent as well 
as the descent of the pellet of food. 

THE DIFFICULTY OF PURGING CATTLE. 

This account of the construction and function of the rumen will 
throw considerable light on some circumstances not a little annoying 
to the practitioner. It has been stated that a portion of the fluid 
swallowed usually enters the rumen, and that the quantity which ac- 
tually enters it depends a little perhaps on the will of the animal, 
more on the manner in which the fluid was administered, but most 
of all on some state of the constitution over which we have no control. 
Accordingly it happens, and not unfrequently, and particularly under 
some diseases of an inflammatory nature, and in which physic is im- 
peratively required, that although it is administered in a liquid form 
and as gently as possible, the greater part or the whole of it enters 
the rumen, and remains there totally inert. Dose after dose is ad- 
ministered, until the practitioner is tired, or afraid to give more ; and, 



THE DIFFICULTY OF PURGING CATTLE. 297 

ignorant of the anatomy and functions of the stomachs, he wonders 
at the obstinate constipation which seems to bid defiance to all pur- 
gative medicines ; whereas, in fact, little or none of it had entered 
the intestinal canal. At length, perhaps, the rumen is excited to 
action, and ejects a considerable portion of its liquid, and some of its 
more solid contents, either directly into the cesophagean canal, or 
through the medium of the reticulum ; and which, by an inverted 
and forcible contraction, is driven through the manyplus and into the 
fourth stomach, and thence into the intestinal canal, and produces 
sometimes natural, but at other times excessive and unmanageable 
and fatal purgation. The great quantity of fibrous substance 
which occasionally is found in the dung, warns us that this has taken 
place. 

Occasionally, when dose after dose has been given, and the animal 
dies apparently constipated, the whole of the physic is found in the 
rumen. These are difficulties in cattle practice which are not yet 
sufficiently understood. 

When two or three moderate doses have been given, and purging 
is not produced, the practitioner may begin to suspect that his medi- 
cine has fallen through this cesophagean fissure into the rumen ; and 
then, although he does not quite discontinue the physic, he should 
principally endeavor to stimulate this cuticular, yet not quite insensi- 
ble stomach. He should lessen the quantity of the purgative, and 
he should double or treble that of the aromatic and stimulant ; and, 
in many cases, he will thus succeed in producing an intestinal evacua- 
tion, the fibrous nature of which will prove the unnatural process by 
which it was effected. 

It was, perhaps, from observation of the occasional benefit derived 
from the administration of aromatics and stimulants, even in inflam- 
matory cases, that the absurd and mischievous practice of giving 
them in every disease, and every state of disease, arose. 

The reason and the propriety of the administration of cattle- 
medicine in a liquid form is hence evident. A ball, in consequence 
of its weight, and the forcible manner in which it is urged on by the 
muscles of the oesophagus, breaks through the floor of the cesopha- 
gean canal, and enters the rumen, and is lost. A liquid, administered 
slowly and carefully, and trickling down the oesophagus without the 
possibility of the muscles of that tube acting upon it and increasing 
its momentum, is likely to glide over this singular floor, and enter 
the fourth stomach and the intestines. A hint may hence be derived 
with regard to the manner of administering a drink. If it be poured 
down bodily from a large vessel, as is generally done, it will probably 
fall on the canal with sufficient force partly, at least, to separate the 
pillars, and a portion of it will enter the rumen and be useless. 

In the calf, fed entirely on its mother's milk, the rumen is in a 
manner useless, for all the food goes on to the fourth stomach. It 
13* 



298 CATTLE. 

is of a liquid form, and it is swallowed in small quantities, and with 
little force at each act of deglutition. The instinctive closure of the 
pillars — an act of organic life — (because the milk if suffered to fall 
into the rumen would be lost, or would undergo dangerous changes 
there) — has far more to do with the direction of the fluid than any 
mechanical effect resulting from the form of the aliment, or the force 
with which it descended the gullet. It is curious to observe the 
comparatively diminutive size of the rumen, and the development of 
the abomasum or digesting stomach in the fcetal calf. 

THE SUBJECT OF RUMINATION, AND THE CHANGES OP THE FOOD RESUMED. 

The food, being returned from the reticulum to the mouth, is there 
subjected to a second mastication, generally very leisurely performed, 
and which is continued until enough is ground not only to satisfy 
the cravings of hunger, but to fill the comparatively small true sto- 
mach and intestine of the animal ; who then, if he is undisturbed, 
usually falls asleep. The act of rumination is accompanied, or 
closely followed, by that of digestion, and requires a considerable 
concentration of vital power; and hence the appearance of tran- 
quillity and sleepy pleasure which the countenance of the beast pre- 
sents. The rumen is rarely or never emptied ; and probably the 
food that is returned for rumination is that which has been macera- 
ting in the stomach during many hours. The process of rumina- 
tion is very easily interrupted. 

The portion of food having been sufficiently comminuted, is at 
length swallowed a second time ; and then, either being of a softer 
consistence, or not being so violently driven down the gullet, or, by 
some instinctive influence, it passes over the floor of the canal, with- 
out separating the pillars, and enters the manyplus, or third stomach. 
This is represented at b, p. 287, and m, p. 291. 

The manyplus presents an admirable provision for that perfect 
comminution of the food which is requisite in an animal destined to 
supply us with nutriment both when living and when dead. That 
which is quite ground down is permitted to pass on ; but the leaves, 
that have been described as hanging from the roof, and floating close 
over the cesophagean canal, and armed with numerous hook-formed 
papilla?, seize upon every particle of fibre that remains, and draw it 
up between them, and file it down by means of the hard prominences 
on their surfaces, and suffer it not to escape until it is reduced to a 
pulpy mass. 

These three stomachs, then, are evidently designed for the prepa- 
ration and comminution of the food before it enters the fourth sto- 
mach, in which the process of digestion may be said to commence, 
and where the food, already softened, is converted into a fluid called 
chyme. The villous coat of the abomasum abounds with small folli- 



CONCRETIONS, OR STONES IN THE RUMEN. 299 

cular glands, whence is secreted a liquid called the gastric juice, and 
which is the agent in producing this chyme. The change, in all 
probability, merely consists in the food being more perfectly dissolved, 
and converted into a semi-fluid homogeneous mass. This form it 
must of necessity assume before its nutritive matter can be sepa- 
rated. The solution being complete, or as much so as it can be 
rendered, the food passes through the pyloric, or lower orifice of the 
stomach, into the duodenum, or first intestine, (g, p. 291,) where its 
separation into the nutritive and innutritive portions is effected, and 
the former begins to be taken up, and carried into the system. 

We are now prepared to enter into the consideration of the diseases 
of this complicated apparatus, diseases of the rumen or paunch. 

SWALLOWING INDIGESTIBLE SUBSTANCES, 

Cattle have been known to swallow cloths, scissors, shoes, sticks, 
leather, indeed all sorts of things that could puss the throat. 

The presence of bodies like these in the rumen cannot fail of being 
injurious to the animal. They must produce local irritation, interfer- 
ing with the proper function of this stomach ; suspending the pro- 
cess of rumination, or rendering it less effectually performed ; and 
exciting inflammation, probably of the stomach generally, as this 
foreign body is traversing its different compartments, or of some par- 
ticular portion in which it may be accidentally arrested, and leading 
on to abscess and perforation of the stomach at that spot. The 
symptoms which would indicate this peculiar cause of disease are 
not yet sufficiently known ; but there must be considerable disturb- 
ance when a body sufficiently hard and pointed thus to force its w r ay 
commences its journey. Inflammation, as conducting to suppuration 
and destruction of the living substance, must precede its course and 
make way for it. The nerves and blood-vessels which lie in its way 
are, with mysterious skill, unerringly avoided, and as little injury as 
possible is done to the neighboring tissues ; but local inflammation 
and pain attend the whole process, which, in many cases, are accom- 
panied by general and severe disease. 

It is seldom that medical skill could be of avail here, until the 
substance approaches to the skin, even if the case were understood. 

CONCRETIONS, OR STONES IN THE RUMEN. 

A frequent and serious complaint is the formation of various con- 
cretions in the rumen. They are generally round, but occasionally 
of various forms, and varying likewise in weight from a few ounces 
to six or seven pounds. The composition of these balls is also very 
different. Those which are decidedly peculiar to cattle are composed 
entirely of hair, matted together by the mucous secretion from the 
follicular glands of the stomach. Sometimes they have no distinct 



300 CATTLE. 

central body ; at other limes it exists in the form of a bit of straw 
or wood, or frequently of stone or iron. They exist in the rumen, 
and in the abomasum. In the abomasum they are composed exclu- 
sively of hair, irregularly matted and held together by the mucus of 
the stomach ; in the rumen there is generally a mixture of food, or 
earthy matter, in the composition of the concretion. When simple 
food mingles with the hair, the ball seems to be formed by a succes- 
sion of concentric layers, and in the centre is a bit of nail or stone ; 
or, if the beasts have access to running water, a piece of shell often 
constitutes the nucleus. 

The hair is obtained by the habit which cattle, and even very 
young calves, have, of licking each other. A considerable quantity 
of hair is loosened and removed by the rough tongues of these animals, 
the greater part of which is swallowed ; and there seems to be a kind 
of power in the stomach to separate these indigestible matters from 
the other substances which it contains. Tt is also easy to imagine 
that the hairs which the manyplus, with all its grinding power, can- 
not rub down, will collect together when floating in the semi-fluid 
contents of the fourth stomach, and gradually accumulate in con- 
siderable and hard masses. These balls will begin to form at a very 
early age of the animal. 

When only a little hair enters into the formation of these calculi, 
they are usually made up of earthy matter, with bits of hay, straw, 
or other food, glued together by the mucus of the stomach. These 
have uniformly a hard central nucleus, generally metallic. The 
concentric layers can here also be traced, but they are, occasionally, 
somewhat confused. 

In some cases, various compounds of lime, and still more of silicious 
matter, can be detected by chemical analysis. These concretions are 
round ; they are seldom found except in the rumen, and never in the 
intestines ; and there is always a central nucleus of stone or metal ; 
the concentric layers are regularly and beautifully marked ; and the 
concretion, when sawed asunder, will bear a high degree of polish. 

Of the effect of these substances on the health of the animal it is 
difficult to speak. One thing, however, is certain, that they are oftener 
found and in greater numbers in those that are ailing and out of con- 
dition, than in stronger and thriving beasts ; but whether some fault 
in the digestive organs, indicated by this poorness of condition, gives 
a tendency to the formation of concretions in the paunch, or the 
presence of these concretions impairs the digestive powers and pro- 
duces general unthriftiness, are questions which it is difficult to 
answer. Each opinion may in its turn be true, but it is probable that 
the latter state of things oftenest occurs. These calculi are, with few 
exceptions, confined to the stomach, where they may produce a sense 
of oppression and impairment of appetite, but cannot be the cause of 
colic, obstruction, inflammation, and strangulation of the intestines. 



DISTENSION OF THE RUMEN FROM FOOD. 301 

DISTENSION OF THE RUMEN FROM FOOD. 

Cattle, when first put on succulent grass or turnips, or when 
suffered to gorge themselves with potatoes or grains, or even with 
chaff, will sometimes distend the rumen almost to bursting. 

The history of the case will generally unfold the nature of it ; and 
it will be distinguished from hoove by its not being attended by 
occasional eructation, by the swelling not being so great as in hoove, 
and by the hardness of the flanks. Should any doubt, however, 
remain, the probang should be passed into the rumen, when, if that 
be distended with gas, a sudden and violent rush of the imprisoned 
air will follow. The probang, however, should always be used, not 
only to determine this point, but the degree to which the rumen is 
distended by food. 

When, although the animal may be dull, refusing to eat, and ceas- 
ing to ruminate, generally lying down and showing great disinclination 
to move, yet the pulse is not materially quickened, and the muscle is 
cool and moist, and there is little heaving at the flanks, and no indi- 
cation of pain, the practitioner may content himself with a free 
bleeding and a powerful dose of physic. These symptoms, however, 
are often treacherous, and, without warning, uneasiness, heaving, 
stupor, and death may rapidly succeed. 

In mild cases, stimulants may be resorted to with frequent advan- 
tage. Ammonia, ether, aromatics, and spirits, have succeeded in 
rousing the stomach to action, and establishing the process of rumi- 
nation ; and that once established, there is little fear of the result of 
the case. These stimulants should, however, be always accompanied 
by aperient medicines. 

When, however, the symptoms are sudden dullness, uneasiness, 
shifting of posture, moaning, swelling at the sides, the flank feeling 
hard and not yielding to pressure ; when rumination ceases, and the 
uneasiness and moaning increase, and the animal gradually becomes 
unconscious, this will admit of no delay, and demands mechanical 
relief; the introduction of the probang will ascertain the degree of 
distension. 

Should the probang enter a little way into the stomach, and the 
operator be able to move it about, he will have proof that, although 
the paunch is sufficiently distended to produce severe annoyance and 
considerable danger to the animal, it is not stretched to the utmost ; 
he may first try the effect of mild measures, and he will be especially 
encouraged to attempt this if he finds that the food is of a rather 
light nature. 

If the probang cannot be introduced at all into the rumen, or the 
food eaten-is heavy, as grains, or potatoes, or corn, the most judicious 
plan will be to make an incision without delay through the left flank 
into the rumen, and thus extract its contents. 



302 



CATTLE. 



This mode of proceeding, however, is recommended only in cases 
of extreme distension with heavy food. The rumen of cattle, with 
few blood-vessels and nerves, will endure very severe treatment 
without serious injury. The principal danger is, and it exists to a 
considerable extent, that a portion of the food will, during the extri- 
cation of the rest from the stomach, fall between the skin and the 
wall of the rumen into the abdomen, and there remain, a source of 
irritation, and the unsuspected cause of serious and fatal disease. 

A beast, whose paunch has been distended to any considerable 
degree, should be prepared for the butcher, or sold immediately, if 
in tolerable condition ; for a stomach, whose muscular fibres have 
been so stretched and enfeebled, will not soon do its full duty again ; 
or a small portion of food, which, notwithstanding the most careful 
management, may fall into the belly, will sometimes, after a while, 
produce inflammation of the intestines, and death. 







STOMACH PUMP. 



This consists of a large syringe. The cuts, Nos. 1 and 2, show 
its use or application. It has an opening on the side at b. 

When a medicine, or food, (as gruel) or water is to be forced into 
the stomach, a hollow pipe, b, fig. 1, is put down the throat, and then 
attached to the syringe at the opening at b. The syringe is then put 
into a vessel containing whatever is to be thrown into the stomach 
and pumped in. In the same manner injections are to be given. 

Whenever the contents of the stomach are to be drawn out, then 
the pipe, d, fig. 2, is put down the throat, into the stomach, and the 
handle of the syringe drawn back, when the contents of the stomach 
are brought up and pass out at the side opening, b. 



DISTENSION OF THE STOMACH FROM GAS. 303 

HOOVE, BLOWN, OB DISTENSION OF THE STOMACH FBOM GAS. 

If a beast, taken from poor or less nutritive food, is put upon 
clover, or turnips, or rich-fog, it eats so greedily and so much, that 
the rumen ceases to act. These green vegetable substances are 
naturally subject to fermentation, during which much gas is extricated, 
but when inclosed in the stomach and exposed to the combined 
influence of heat and moisture, the commencement of the fermentation 
is hastened, and its effect increased. 

The " Hoove" or " Blown" is distension of the rumen, by gas 
extricated from substances undergoing the process of fermentation 
Avithin it. In a healthy discharge of the functions of the stomach, 
the food simply undergoes a process of maceration or softening ; but 
if the food be retained in the stomach longer than the usual period, it, 
or perhaps only a portion of the juices which it contains, begins to 
ferment ; or, as in animals with simple stomachs, even this prepara- 
tory one may so sympathize with certain states of the constitution, 
as either to secrete an acid principle, or to favor the development of 
it in the food. It is from this cause that some degree of hoove 
accompanies most fevers, and it is the consequence of general irrita- 
tion produced by obstruction of the oesophagus ; it sometimes accom- 
panies difficult parturition, and to such an extent, that it is necessary 
to puncture the rumen before the calf can descend sufficiently low 
into the pelvis to be extracted. 

Its most frequent cause, however, is the turning of a beast from 
poor, or less nutritious food, into plentiful and luxuriant pasture, 
when he frequently eats so greedily, and so much, that the stomach 
is overloaded, and is unable to circulate the food through it cavities, 
and from the combined action of heat and moisture, its contents speedily 
ferment, and gas is extricated. The following are the symptoms : — 

The animal gradually becomes oppressed and distressed. It ceases 
to eat ; it does not ruminate ; it scarcely moves ; but it stands with 
its head extended, breathing heavily, and moaning. The whole belly 
is blown up ; this is particularly evident at the flanks, and most of all 
at the left flank, under which the posterior division of the rumen lies. 
The rumen in cattle is scantily supplied with either blood-vessels or 
nerves, and therefore the brain is seldom much affected in an early 
stage of hoove. Swelling, unwillingness to move, and laborious 
breathing, are the first and distinguishing symptoms. In proportion 
as the stomach becomes distended by the extricated gas, the case 
becomes more desperate, not only from the pressure on the other 
contents of the abdomen, thus impeding the circulation of the blood, 
and also on the diaphragm, against which the rumen abuts, and thus 
impeding respiration, and also the danger of rupture of the paunch, 
but the construction of the oesophageal! canal renders it manifest that 
the rumen will be more obstinately closed in proportion as it is dis- 



304 CATTLE. 

tended. It is the relaxation of the muscular fibres which causes the 
two pillars that constitute the floor of the canal and the roof of the 
rumen to be easily opened, either for the admission or the return of 
food ; but when the stomach is filled and elongated, as well as 
widened, these fleshy pillars must be stretched, and in proportion as 
they are distended, will they be brought closer to each other, and 
firmly held there. When the rumen is filling, there are occasional 
eructations of a sour or fetid character ; but when the stomach is 
once filled, there is no longer the possibility of escape for its contents. 
The animal cannot long sustain this derangement of important 
parts ; inflammation is set up, and the circulation becomes seriously 
and dangerously disturbed by this partial obstruction. Affection of 
the brain comes at last, characterized by fullness of the vessels, hard- 
ness of the pulse, redness of the conjunctiva, and protrusion of the 
eye. The tongue hangs from the mouth, and the mouth is filled 
with spume. The beast stands with his back bent, his legs as much 
as possible under him ; and he gradually becomes insensible — im- 
movable — moans — falls — struggles with some violence, and as death 
approaches, some relaxation of the parts ensues, and a quantity of 
green sour liquid, occasionally mixed with more solid food, flows 
from the mouth and nose. 

In order to save the animal, the gas must be liberated or other- 
wise got rid of. Some persons, when symptoms of hoove appear, 
drive the animal about, and keep him for a while in constant motion. 
It is supposed, that in the motion of all the contents of the abdomen, 
while the animal is moving briskly about, the pillars of the roof of 
the paunch must be for a moment relaxed, and opportunity given 
for the gas to escape into the cesophagean canal, and through the 
gullet ; and this will, undoubtedly, be the case to a certain degree. 
The ox cannot without much difficult} 7 , and often not at all, be in- 
duced to move with rapidity, which is necessary to produce concus- 
sions sufficiently powerful to shorten and disunite the muscular pil- 
lars. There must also be some danger of rupturing the stomach so 
much distended, or the diaphragm, against which it is pressing, by 
the very production of these concussions. 

Alkalies have been recommended, as almost a specific* It may be 
conceded that the alkali would be likely to neutralize the acid con- 
tents of the stomach ; but there is one objection to it, viz., that the 
same closing of the roof of the rumen, which prevents the escape of 
the gas, would also prevent the entrance of the alkali, which would, 
consequently, pass on to the third and fourch stomachs, where there 
is no acid for it to neutralize. 

Oil (whether olive, or spermaceti, or castor, or common whale oil, 
seems to be a matter of indifference) will sometimes prove servicea- 
ble in cases of hoove ; but it is either at the very commencement, be- 
fore the muscular pillars are tightened, and when a portion of it can 



DISTENSION OF THE STOMACH FROM GAS. n05 



enter the paunch, and produce a disposition to vomiting or purging ; 
or, if the whole passes on into the fourth stomach, and so into the in- 
testinal canal, a sympathetic but inverted action is excited in the ru- 
men, and a portion of its contents is sent, by an unusual passage, 
from the rumen through the third and into the fourth stomach, and 
so relief is obtained. In this way purging is occasionally established, 
either in consequence of a stimulus applied immediately to the coats 
of the first stomach, or from sympathy with the action going forward 
in the intestinal canal, and a portion of the food is carried from the 
rumen into the intestines without being returned to the mouth to be 
remasticated. The grassy and harder fibres, sometimes found in the 
dung in considerable quantities, prove that that portion of it could 
not have undergone rumination. This, however, is not striking at the 
root of the evil. 

The object to be 'accomplished is the extrication of the gas, and 
the prevention of any fresh quantity of it being developed. If the 
farmer or the practitioner, at a distance from home, sees any of his 
cattle so dangerously hoven or swelled as to threaten speedy death, 
he adopts a summary mode of getting rid of the gas : he takes a 
sharp-pointed knife, and plunges it into the left side, underneath, and 
in contact with which the rumen is found. The gas rushes vio- 
lently through the aperture, carrying with it steam, and fluid, and 
pieces of food. The belly falls, and the beast is immediately relieved. 
The safest place for this operation is the following : — Supposing a 
line to be drawn close along the vertebrae, from the haunch-bone to 
the last rib, and two other lines of equal length to extend down the 
flank, so as to .form an equilateral triangle, the apex of the triangle, 
or the point where these lines would meet, would be the proper place 
for the operation, for there is no danger of wounding either the spleen 
of the kidney. 

It may also be suggested, that a small trochar is far preferable to 
a knife for this operation, and might very conveniently be carried in 
the instrument-case of the surgeon, or the pocket of the farmer. It 
consists of a short strong stilett, terminating in three cutting-edges 
converging to a point, and having a handle that may be grasped 
with some force. To this is accurately fitted a silver tube, reaching 
from the termination of the three edges to the handle. This is 
plunged into the flank ; the stilett is then withdrawn and the tube 
remains as long as the operator pleases, and may be secured by tapes 
attached to two rings at the base of it, and tied round the body of 
the animal. 

The gas is certainly extricated by the knife or trochar, and gene- 
rally successfully so. When gas ceases to escape, it may be taken 
for granted that the manufacture of it has ceased in the rumen ; the 
trocar may then be withdrawn, and the wound will speedily heal. 
There are, however, occasional bad consequences, which are altogether 



306^ CATTLE. 

unsuspected. At the commencement of the operation, when the 
skin of the side is in close contact with the paunch, the gas, fluid, 
and fibrous matter will all be safely thrown out through the two 
wounds, for, lying upon each other, they are but as one ; but when 
the paunch is partially emptied of the gas, it sinks, and is no longer 
in contact with the outside skin. The gas and particles of solid food 
continue to be discharged for a considerable time after this ; and 
although the greater part may be ejected with sufficient force to be 
driven through the aperture in the skin, yet some portion will 
necessarily fall into the abdomen and remain there. This will, ere 
long, become a source of considerable and dangerous irritation, 
slow or rapid in its progress and effects, according to the quantity 
of food that has escaped from the stomach into the abdominal cavity : 
accordingly it happens, that although the beast may appear to be 
perfectly relieved by this operation, he does not thrive well after- 
wards, and in the course of a few weeks or months, sickens and dies 
of some obscure disease, but which is principally referable to in- 
flammatory affection of the abdomen. Therefore, the farmer or 
practitioner who has faith in an occasional recourse to the mode of 
cure by puncturing the rumen, should always carry a trochar with 
him, for the tube penetrating three or four inches into the abdomen, 
forms a continuous passage between the rumen and the skin, not- 
withstanding the subsidence of the former, and would prevent the 
escape of any portion of the contents of the rumen into the abdomen. 

Although a portion of the gas may be liberated by this operation, 
yet the process of fermentation may proceed. The gas may escape, 
but that which would furnish a continued, annoying, and dangerous 
supply of it, remains. Then the advocates for opening the paunch 
carry their operations a little farther. They enlarge the aperture 
into the paunch, until, as in bad cases of maw-bound, they can in- 
troduce their hand, and shovel out the contents ; and, as before 
stated, the stomach, from its comparative insensibilitjr and want of 
vitality, bears all this without any considerable inflammation or 
danger ; there is however, the same danger from the escape of a 
portion of the contents into the cavity of the belly. 

This larger opening into the rumen should never be attempted 
except by a person perfectly acquainted with the anatomy of cattle, 
and the precise situation of the viscera of the belly, for otherwise 
the kidneys or the intestines may be wounded. 

It was the knowledge that the practice of puncturing the rumen 
was not so simple and so free from danger as some had imagined, 
that led to the invention and use of the probang and stomach- 
pump. The tube (fig. 1, a, p. 280) is introduced into the mouth, 
and is passed down the throat, with the rounded extremity, e, down- 
ward, and is forced on through the pillars of the cesophagean canal : 
the stilett is then withdrawn, and the gas rushes violently out. The 



DISTENSION OF THE STOMACH FROM GAS. 307 

tube is continued in the mouth until the belly sinks, and little gas 
escapes : the animal is greatly relieved, and if it begins to swell 
again, the probang is once more introduced. But the tube cannot 
remain in the mouth and gullet for any great length of time ; and 
when it is withdrawn, the manufacture of gas may continue undi- 
minished, and the relief be only temporary, and so far the probang 
may be in some degree inferior to the trochar. 

The practitioner then has recourse to the stomach-pump, and 
throws in a considerable quantity of warm water, and pumps it out 
again ; and repeats the operation until he has washed away all the 
acid fermenting fluid, and then usually the process of rumination 
recommences, and the animal does well. Sometimes he so over- 
charges the stomach that vomiting is produced, and a great portion 
of the contents of the rumen is thus discharged. 

Alkalies have been thrown into the stomach to neutralize the sup- 
posed acid principle which there prevailed. As, however, a very 
small portion of it, if any, enters the rumen, it will principally do 
good, and much good it frequently does effect, by its stimulant effect 
on the fourth stomach, propagated by sympathy to the first. 

Hoove, however, had long been considered to be a case in which 
the aid of chemistry might be resorted to with considerable benefit. 
It had been suspected that the gas consisted principally of hydrogen ; 
for when a lighted candle had been accidentally brought into contact 
with the vapor as it rushed from the aperture in the flank, the gas 
immediately caught fire. Careful analysis indicated that the gas 
was differently combined in different stages. In recent hoove it 
consisted chiefly of carburetted hydrogen — the union of carbon with 
hydrogen ; in more chronic cases there was a mixture of sulphuret- 
ted hydrogen — the union of sulphur and hydrogen ; and, in propor- 
tion to the continuance of the hoove, the sulphuretted hydrogen 
increased, and at length prevailed. In both cases hydrogen was the 
chief constituent. 

Then came the inquiry, whether something might not be introducd 
into the stomach which would combine with the gas already extrica- 
ted and cause it to disappear, and also prevent its future accumula- 
tion, by combining with it as soon as it was produced. 

A method was soon discovered. Chlorine has affinity for various 
substances, as lime, potash, and soda ; and in combination with 
either of these could be used. When introduced by means of the 
stomach-pump into the rumen, the chlorine will separate itself from 
the alkali, and combine with the hydrogen, for which it has a more 
powerful affinity, and forms muriatic gas. This gas has a strong 
affinity for water, and will be quickly absorbed by the fluid always 
contained within the stomach ; and so, quitting its gaseous for a fluid 
form, it quickly disappears, or will not retain a thousandth part of 
its former bulk, and muriatic acid will be formed. At the same time, 



303 CATTLE. 

the lime or potash, or soda, will be liberated ; yet no danger results 
from the presence of this corroding acid and caustic alkali ; for there 
is a chemical affinity between them which will be soon exerted, and 
the harmless and inert muriates of lime or potash, or soda, be 
produced. Hence resulted one of the most important improvements 
in cattle-medicine that modern times have produced. 

There are several other medicaments which have been found of 
great service in this disease, such as lime-water, potash, hartshorn, 
and particularly sulphuric ether. About an ounce and a half of 
hartshorn may be given in a pint and a half of water, unless the 
symptoms are so urgent as to threaten immediate suffocation : then 
the flexible tube, if at hand, should be used ; or, if not, the trochar, 
or the knife, plunged into the flank. If the symptoms should denote 
any inflammation, ether will be preferable as a medicine, as it 
promptly condenses the gases : an ounce may be given in a pint of 
water. If the symptoms are produced by green food, there is less 
probability of inflammation than if the food has been previously 
dry. 

The chloride of lime is as good as either of the others, and should 
always be in the possession of the farmer and practitioner, not only 
for this purpose, but because, in cases of foul, fetid ulceration, and 
gangrene generally, it is the most powerful disinfectant, and the most 
useful stimulant that can be applied. The proper and safe dose is 
two drachms of the powdered chloride of lime dissolved in two 
quarts of water, and injected into the paunch by means of the sto- 
mach-pump. This may be repeated an hour afterward, if circum- 
stances should appear to require it. 

The trochar will then supersede the use of the knife and the lancet, 
when, under circumstances of emergency, the practitioner may be 
compelled to act promptly ; for, by the continuance of the tube in 
the wound, some of the distant and unsuspected results of the com- 
mon method of puncturing the rumen may be avoided ; but when 
the practioner is near home, or can obtain speedy access to his sto- 
mach-tube and pump, the trochar will be completely discarded. 

The animal having been relieved, and the gas ceasing to distend 
the paunch, a pound of Epsom salts should be administered with an 
ounce of carraway powder, and half an ounce of ginger ; and, on 
several successive mornings, four ounces of Epsom salts, two of 
powdered gentian, and half an ounce of ginger should be given. 
The object of the practitioner, or the owner, should be to restore, 
as speedily and as effectually as possible, the tone and action of the 
rumen. The return of the process of rumination will show when 
that is beginning to be effected, and rumination will usually precede 
the desire to eat. 

Attention should for some time be paid to the manner of feeding. 
A mash should be daily allowed, and the pasture on which the beast 



LOSS OF CUD. 



is turned should be short and bare, rather than luxuriant. The over- 
distended stomach of the hoven beast will not soon, and in most 
eases will never, quite recover its former energy ; and if the beast 
be in tolerable condition, it should be sent to the butcher, or it 
should be got ready for the market as quickly as that can with 
safety be effected. 

Sucking calves are occasionally subject to hoove. Little more 
will be necessary in this case than the introduction of the probang. 
This distension of the rumen arises from some accidental and tempo- 
rary cause, and there is rarely any continued manufacture of gas 
within the stomach. Some calves become blown from the trick which 
they frequently have of sucking each other's pizzle or ear. It is cu- 
rious to see with what eagerness they will do this, and how quickly 
they blow themselves up by the air which they draw in and swallow. 
The introduction of the probang will be sufficient here, but it will be 
prudent to separate the animals. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Colchicum autumnale rarely fails in its 
effects, and ordinarily it establishes an instantaneous cure. Some- 
times, however, it must be repeated two, three, and even four times. 
Occasionally .the symptoms subside without the animal voiding any 
wind. In chronic meteorization, or formation of gas, which is renewed 
frequently, colchicum taken alternately with arsenicum is very useful. 
Benefit it is said has been derived from china. If rumination be not 
re-established at the time the disease is cured, aconitum must be given, 
and after some hours, arsenicum. When meteorization, gas, has been 
caused not by green fodder, but by some disturbance of digestion, 
we must have recourse to nux vomica ; the same substance is suita- 
ble, when the disease is attributable to the animal's having eaten 
colchicum in the meadows. 

Lastly, when the danger has become so pressing that we are 
brought to the necessity of puncturing in order to avoid death, it is, 
however, still necessary to administer the colchicum after having 
cleansed the mouth carefully ; after some time a few doses of arnica 
must be given. 

LOSS OF CUD. 

The cessation of rumination, designated by the term " the loss of 
cud," is more a symptom of disease, than a disease of itself. It ac- 
companies most inflammatory complaints, and is often connected 
with those of debility. It will be the duty of the practitioner to 
ascertain the cause of this suspension of second mastication, and to 
adapt his mode of treatment to the nature of that cause. A dose of 
physic, with a very small portion of aromatic medicine, will be indi- 
cated if any fever can be detected ; more than the usual quantity of 
the aromatic will be added in the absence of fever, and still more, 
with tonic and alterative medicine, if general debility be indicated. 



310 CATTLE. 

The carraway and ginger powder are the best aromatics that can be 
employed, and will supersede every other: the gentian and ginger, 
with Epsom salts, as recommended in page 308, will prove a very 
useful tonic and alterative, in cases of " loss of cud" that cannot be 
traced to any particular diseased state of the animal, or that seems to 
be connected with general debility. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE RUMEN. 

In almost every book on cattle-medicine mention is made of " in- 
flammation of the stomach ;" and certainly cases do, although but 
rarely, occur, in which evident traces of inflammation of the rumen 
may be discovered on examination after death. The cuticular coat 
is not discolored, but it peels from the mucous coat below at the 
slightest touch, and that coat is red and injected. This is particu- 
larly the case when a beast dies soon after apparent recovery from 
distension of the stomach by gas, or when he is destroyed by the 
accumulation of solid food that could not be removed. It is likewise 
found in every case of poisoning, but the symptoms during life are 
so obscure that it would be useless to bestow further time on the 
consideration of this disease. 

POISONS. 

Nature has endowed the brute with an acuteness of the various 
senses, and with a degree of instinct which, so far as the life and 
enjoyment and usefulness of the animal are concerned, fully compen- 
sate for the lack of the intelligence of the human being. The quad- 
ruped is scarcely born ere he is mysteriously guided, and without 
any of the lessons of experience, to the kind of food which affords 
him the most suitable nourishment, and he is warned from that which 
would be deleterious. There is scarcely a pasture which does not 
contain some poisonous plants, yet the beast crops the grass close 
around them, without gathering a particle of that which would be 
injurious. In the spring of the year, however, and especially after 
they have been kept in the stall or the straw-yard during the winter, 
and supported chiefly on dry food, as soon as they are turned into 
the fields cattle eat greedily of every herb that presents itself, and 
frequently are seriously diseased, and sometimes quite poisoned. 
They are under the influence of appetite almost ungovernable, and 
few plants have then acquired their distinguishing form and color, 
and taste and smell. The common and water-hemlock, the water 
dropwort, and the yew, are the principal plants that are poisonous to 
cattle ; but it is said that the common crow-foot, and various others 
of the ranunculus family, the wild parsnip, black henbane, and the 
wild poppy, are occasionally destructive. 

The symptoms of poisoning by these acrid and narcotic plants are 
obscure, unless they can be connected with the history of the case. 
They are prin?»;ially sudden swelling, with a peculiar stupor, in the 



POISONS. 311 



early stage of the attack : cessation of rumination ; a change in the 
quality of the milk, which becomes thin and serous, and presently 
ceases to be secreted ; the refusal of all solid food, and eagerness 
after water ; quickening of the pulse, which yet becomes small, and, 
in some cases, scarcely to be felt ; and the animal frequently grinds 
the teeth, and paws, and rolls, as if it felt severe colic pains. In a 
few instances the stupor passes over, and a degree of excitement 
and blind fury succeeds, which has been mistaken for madness. 

On examination after death, the greater part of the poison is usu- 
ally found in the paunch, but, in a few cases, it has been remasti- 
cated, and conveyed into the fourth stomach and intestines. The 
sense of taste does not seem to be very acute in cattle ; it is a sleepy 
kind of pleasure which they feel in rumination, and the acrid and 
bitter flavor of many a plant appears to give them little annoyance. 

Inflammation is found in the paunch and second stomach, charac- 
terized by the ease with which the cuticular coat is separated from 
that beneath. The manyplus is usually filled with dry and hardened 
food ; and the fourth stomach and intestines exhibit inflammation 
and ulceration proportioned to the acrimony of the poison, and the 
quantity of it which had passed into these viscera. 

Little can be done in the way of medicine when cattle have browsed 
on these poisonous plants, and the only hope of the practitioner must 
be founded on the early and persevering use of the stomach-pump. 
Plenty of warm water should be injected and pumped out, and that 
repeated again and again ; and at length the stomach should be fully 
distended with water, for the purpose, and in the hope of, producing 
vomiting. Whether this succeeds or not, a brisk purgative should be 
next administered, but as cautiously and gently as possible, that it 
may pass on over the closed floor of the cesophagean canal into the 
fourth stomach, and not, by the power with which it descends, force 
open the pillars that compose that floor, and enter the rumen and be 
lost. Tonics and aromatics will here also follow the evacuation of the 
stomach, in order to restore its tone. 

While speaking of poisons, it will, perhaps, be proper to mention 
that cattle are sometimes exposed to extreme danger from the appli- 
cation of deleterious mineral preparations for the cure of mange and 
other cutaneous eruptions. 

It is no unusual thing for cattle that have been incautiously dressed 
with a strong solution of corrosive sublimate, to become seriously ill. 
They cease to eat and to ruminate ; the saliva drivels from their 
mouths ; they paw with their feet ; look anxiously at their flanks, 
and are violently purged — blood usually mingling with the faeces. 

The remedy, if there be time and opportunity to have recourse to 
it, is the white of several eggs, beaten up with thick gruel, and gently 
poured down the throat, that it may be more likely to pass on to the 
fourth stomach ; and this repeated every hour, until the animal is 



312 CATTLE. 

either relieved or dead. As soon as decided relief is obtained, a dose 
of physic should be given, and if any fever seems to be coming on, a 
few pounds of blood should be taken away. 

Cattle in the neighborhood of lead-mines have been dangerously 
affected from the effects of this ore in the grass. Difficult respiration 
with loud wheezing is one of the most prominent symptoms, the beast 
losing its appetite, pining away, and at length dying of suffocation or 
attacked by epileptic symptoms. Large doses of Epsom or Glauber's 
salts, with linseed oil, and followed by opium, are tbe best remedies. 
The smoke from copper-mines has also produced sad disease amongst 
animals in the neighborhood : it causes swellings of the joints, of a 
painful description. An early removal to another soil forms the best 
treatment. 

Ranking under the general term of poisons, we may mention the 
bites of venomous reptiles. The beast is generally stung about the 
head or feet, for it is most likely to disturb these reptiles either in the 
act of browsing, or as it wanders over the pasture. Cattle bitten in 
the tongue almost invariably die. They are suffocated by the rapid 
swelling which takes place. The udder has occasionally been stung ; 
but the supposed bites on the teats are, far oftener than otherwise, 
the effect of garget. 

Embrocation for Bite of Reptiles. — Take hartshorn, and olive oil, 
equal quantities. Shake them well together, and rub the wound and 
the neighboring parts well with the liniment morning and night. 

A quart of olive oil should also be given to the animal, mixed with 
an ounce of hartshorn. Oil of turpentine may be used when harts- 
horn cannot be procured ; but it is not so much to be depended upon. 

The stings of hornets, wasps, and bees, in some cases produce 
much temporary swelling and pain. If the part be well rubbed with 
warm vinegar, the inconvenience will soon subside. 

DISEASES OF THE RETICULUM. 

Of these, in the present state of knowledge of cattle-medicine, little 
can be said. Some of the foreign substances that are found in the 
rumen have been occasionaly discovered in the reticulum, as pins, 
pieces of wire, nails, small stones, &c. They were, probably, ejected 
over the valve between the two stomachs, enveloped by, or attached 
to, the portion of food that was preparing for a second mastication. 
In the forcible contraction of the stomach, it has been severely 
wounded by these, and so much inflammation has ensued that the 
animal has been lost. 

The writer of this treatise has frequently seen inflammation of the 
second stomach — sometimes accompanying that of the paunch, and 
at other times seemingly confined to the reticulum. This inflam- 
mation was, as in the rumen, characterized by the peeling off of the 
cuticular coat, and the redness of the tissue beneath it ; but the 



DISEASES OF THE MANYPLUS, OR MANIFOLDS. 313 



symptoms were so different in different cases, and always so obscure, 
that no legitimate conclusion could be drawn from the appearances 
that presented themselves. 

DISEASES OF THE MANYPLUS, OR MANIFOLDS. 

Although the function of this stomach is one of a purely mechani- 
cal nature, there seems to be a strong bond of sympathy between it 
and almost every part of the frame. There are few serious diseases 
by which cattle are afflicted, and none of an acute and inflammatory 
nature, in which the manyplus is not involved. It is so common in 
cases of catarrh, constipation, inflammation of the lungs or bowels, 
simple fever, dropping after calving, blain, and even murrain, to find 
the manyplus either choked with food in a hardened state, or, if con- 
tinuing soft, yet having become exceedingly putrid and emitting a 
most nauseous smell, that the idea of the animal being fardel-bound, 
or having disease of the faik, is always present in the mind of the 
farmer and the country practitioner. They are seldom wrong in this 
surmise, for the fardel-bag either sympathizes with the diseases of 
other parts, or is the original seat and focus of disease. 

The manyplus has been described as containing numerous leaves, 
curtains, or duplicatures of its cuticular coat, and with interposed 
layers of muscular and vascular tissue, which hang from its roof and 
float loose in its cavity. These leaves are covered with innumerable 
little hard papillae or prominences ; and many of these, and especially 
toward the lower edges, assume a greater degree of bulk, and some- 
thing of a hook-like form. Those portions of food that are returned 
after the second mastication, that have not been thoroughly ground 
down, are seized by these hooked edges of the leaves and drawn up be- 
tween them, and there retained until, by the action of these flexible grind- 
stones, they are sufficiently comminuted for the purpose of digestion. 

It is easy to imagine that, either sharing in the irritability of other 
parts, or being the original seat of irritation and inflammation, the 
manyplus may spasmodically contract upon and forcibly detain the 
substances that have been thus taken up between its leaves. By this 
contraction the natural moisture of the food, or that which it had 
acquired in the processes of maceration and mastication, is mechanically 
squeezed out, or drained away by the very position of the leaves, and 
a hard and dry mass necessarily remains. When the contraction is 
violent, and this imprisonment of the food long continued, we can 
even conceive of the possibility of its becoming so hardened and dry 
as to be snapped between the fingers, and to be capable of being 
reduced to powder. The description of it is not exaggerated when 
it is said to " look as if it had been baked in an oven." On the other 
hand, it can as readily be imagined that, either debilitated by inflam- 
matory action peculiar to itself, or sympathizing with and sharing in 
the debility of other parts, the leaves may have lost the power of 
14 



314 CATTLE. 

acting on the food contained between them, and which, supported by 
the irregularities of the cuticular coat, and imprisoned there in a 
somewhat pultaceous form, will gradually become putrid and offensive. 

The animal may be fed on too dry and fibrous matter, or he may 
lazily and but half perform the process of rumination ; in consequence 
of this, the hard parts of the food may accumulate in the manyplus 
more rapidly than they can be ground down, and so the stomach 
may become clogged and its function suspended. Whatever the 
cause, this state of contraction or inaction of the manyplus often 
occurs, and either aggravates the pre-existing malady, or becomes a 
new source of disease, and hastens or causes the death of the animal. 

When this stomach has been spasmodically contracted, or long and 
forcibly distended, the imprisoned food presents a very curious 
appearance. There is an indentation of the papillae on the surface of 
the detained mass. All this force must have produced inflammation 
of the part ; and that intense inflammation does occasionally exist in 
the manyplus, sufficient to produce great and general derangement 
and even to destroy the beast, is evident by the easy separation of 
the cuticular coat. In many cases, or perhaps in the majority of 
them, it is impossible to remove the detained mass from its situation 
without a portion of the cuticular coat accompanying and covering it. 
Even this hardened state of the contents of the manyplus is not 
always a proof of general disease. It is an unnatural and morbid 
state of the stomach ; but very considerable local disease may exist in 
this organ, without materially, or in any appreciable degree, inter- 
fering with general health and good condition. The fardel-bag has 
been found choked with food, and that dry and black, and roasted, 
and yet the beast had apparently been in perfect health. 

The author of this treatise has seen the loss of function confined 
to one part only of this stomach. Between some of the leaves, or on 
one side or curvature of the manyplus, the contents have been green 
and fluid ; in the other portion of it they have been perfectly baked. 
It is a wise and kind provision of nature, that the general health and 
thriving of the animal shall in various cases be so little impaired by 
local, although serious, disease. Many a trifling circumstance, never- 
theless, may cause this local evil to spread rapidly and widely ; and, 
even without any additional excitement, the mere continuance of such 
a disease, accompanied by such derangement of function, can scarcely 
fail of being attended by injurious consequences. 

This state of the manyplus is one of the most serious species of 
indigestion to which these animals are subject, and deserves the atten- 
tive consideration of the practitioner. There are, nevertheless, many 
difficulties accompanying the study of this important subject. 

The clue ox fardel-bound, names by which the retention of the food 
in the manifolds is distinguished, may be occasionally produced by 
the animal feeding on too stimulating plants, or on those which are 



DISEASES OF THE MANYPLUS, OR MANIFOLDS. 315 



of a narcotic nature. A sudden change from green and succulent 
food to that which is hard and fibrous may also readily be supposed 
to be a very likely cause of it. The strange fancy that induces many 
cows, and especially those in calf, to refuse the soft and nutritious 
food of the pasture and browse on the coarse grass and weeds which 
the hedges produce, will necessarily overload the manyplus with hard 
and fibrous substances ; and many a beast has suffered in this way 
from being too rapidly and exclusively put on chaff of various kinds. 

The symptoms vary in different animals, but the following is an 
outline of them : the animal is evidently oppressed ; the pulse is 
somewhat accelerated and hard ; the respiration not much quickened ; 
the muzze dry ; the mouth hot ; the tongue protruded, and seemingly 
enlarged ; the membrane both of the eyes and nose injected ; the eye 
protruded or weeping ; the head extended ; the animal unwillino- to 
move ; the gait uncertain and staggering ; the urine generally voided 
with difficulty, and sometimes red and even black. There is apparent 
and obstinate costiveness, yet small quantities of liquid faeces are 
discharged. As the disease proceeds, and often at an early period, 
there is evident determination of blood to the head, evinced not only 
by this staggering gait, but by a degree of unconsciousness ; the eyes 
weep more ; the lids are swollen ; the costiveness continues or some 
hardened excrement is voided, but fetid and mixed with blood ; 
rumination ceases ; the secretion of milk is usually suspended, or the 
milk becomes offensive both in taste and smell ; the urine flows more 
abundantly, but that too continues of a dark color. 

Many of these symptoms distinguish this complaint from dis- 
tension of the rumen ; there is not the hardness at the flanks, 
and the general swelling of the belly, which is observed in disten- 
sion by food ; nor the greater distension and threatened suffocation 
which accompany hoove. In bad cases, and when the symptoms 
take on much of the character of that undescribed and unintelli- 
gible disease, wood-evil — trembling of the frame generally, a degree 
of palsy, coldness of the extremities, actual swelling of the tongue, 
the eyes glaring, and the ears and the tail being in frequent and 
convulsive motion — these are the precursors of death. 

The period of the termination of the disease is uncertain ; it 
extends f rom three or four days to more than as many weeks. 
Many of these symptoms so often accompany other diseases, that 
they are utterly insufficient always or generally to lead to a right 
conclusion as to the nature of the complaint, and careful inquiry 
must be made into the history of the case. 

The treatment is as unsatisfactory as the history of the symptoms. 
It will always be proper to bleed, in order to diminish any existing 
fever, or to prevent the occurrence of that which continued disease 
of this important stomach would be likely to produce. To this 
should follow a dose of physic, in order to evacuate the intestines 



316 CATTLE. 

beyond the place of obstruction, and, by its action on them, pos- 
sibly recall this viscus also to the discharge of its healthy function. 
The Epsom salts, with half the usual quantity of ginger, will form 
the best purgative ; and it should be administered either by means 
of a small horn, or the pipe of the stomach-pump introduced half 
way down the gullet, and the liquid very slowly pumped in. By 
this cautious method of proceeding, the pillars of the cesophagean 
canal will probably not be forced open, and the liquid will flow on 
through the passage still partially open at the bottom of the many- 
plus, and thence into the abomasum. Of the sympathetic influence 
which the establishment of increased action of the intestines has on 
the stomachs above in rousing them to their wonted function, mention 
has already been made ; it is a fact of much importance, and should 
never be forgotten by the practitioner. 

A consideration of the nature of the disease will necessarily lead 
to the next step. Either a great quantity of food is retained between 
the leaves of the manyplus in a natural and softened state, or it is 
powerfully compressed there, and has become dry and hard. Now 
the longer leaves of this stomach reach from the roof almost or quite 
to the base of it, and some of them float in the continuation of the 
cesophagean canal through which all fluids pass in their way to the 
fourth stomach. Then plenty of fluid should be made to flow 
through this canal ; and this may readily be effected by the small 
horn, or much better by the stomach-pump. An almost constant 
current of warm water may thus be kept up through the canal, by 
means of which the food retained towards the lower edge of the 
leaves, and most obstinately retained there on account of the hook- 
like form of the papillae, will be gradually softened and washed out. 
This will leave room for the descent of more ; and the natural action 
of this portion of the leaves being possibly re-established, when 
freed from the weight and oppression of that by which they had 
been filled, the mass that remains above will begin to be loosened ; 
it will gradually descend and be softened by the stream, and it too 
will be carried off: and so, in process of time, a great part of the 
stomach will be emptied, and the manifolds will be so far relieved as 
to be able to renew its natural function. 

Oil has been recommended for this purpose ; but the hardened food 
will be more readily softened by warm water, than by any oil that 
can be administered. Some portion of aperient salt should be dis- 
solved in the water, in order that purgation may be established as 
soon as possible, or kept moderately up when it is established ; but 
no heating, stimulating, tonic medicine, beyond the prescribed pro- 
portion of aromatic to the purgative, should on any account be given, 
for it is impossible to tell what inflammatory action may be going 
forward in the manyplus, or to what degree the spasmodic contrac- 
tion on its contents may be increased. No food should be allowed 



DISEASES OF THE ABOMASUM, OR FOURTH STOMACH. 31'/ 

except soft, or almost fluid mashes, but the animal may be indulged 
in water or thin gruel without limit. Clysters can have little effect, 
and will only uselessly tease the animal, already sufficiently annoyed 
by frequent drenching. 

After all, it may be doubtful whether the injury and danger 
produced by the distension of the manifolds with food is not some- 
times brought about in a different way from that which has been 
hitherto imagined. This stomach has already been described (p. 
288), as situated obliquely between the liver and the right sac of 
the rumen, and, therefore, when distended by food it will press 
upon the liver, and impede the circulation through the main ves- 
sel that returns the blood from the intestines to the heart, and 
thus cause the retention of an undue quantity of blood in the 
veins of the abdomen. From this will naturally or almost neces- 
sarily arise a determination of blood to the brain, and the winding 
up of the disease by a species of apoplexy. This, however, will 
not alter the opinion that has been given of the proper treatment 
of the disease, but will throw considerable light on the nature and 
causes of some of these determinations to the head, which have not 
hitherto been perfectly understood. 

THE DISEASES OF THE ABOMASUM, OR FOURTH STOMACH. 

Our knowledge of the nature, and symptoms, and treatment of 
these diseases is as imperfect as those of the manyplus. Concretions, 
and mostly of hair, are occasionally found in this stomach, which, by 
their pressure, must produce disease to a certain extent. Poisonous 
substances, received into this stomach after rumination, as is some- 
times the case when the plants are fully grown, from the deficiency 
of acute taste in the ox, and which oftener happens when, in spring, 
neither their taste nor their smell is developed, produce inflammation 
and ulceration of the coats of the abomasum. Inflammation may 
and does exist from other causes, as exposure to too great heat, and 
the continuance of unseasonable cold and wet weather, too sudden 
change of food, the administration of acrid and stimulating medicines : 
but the practitioner can rarely distinguish them from inflammatory 
disease of the other stomachs, or of the intestinal canal. 

So far as the symptoms can be arranged, they are nearly the fol- 
lowing : there is fever ; a full and hard pulse at the commencement, 
but rapidly changing its character and becoming small, very irregu- 
lar, intermittent, and, at last, scarcely to be felt except at the heart. 
The beast is much depressed and almost always lying down, with its 
head turned towards its side, and its muzzle, as nearly as possible, 
resting on the place beneath which the fourth stomach would be 
found, or when standing, it is curiously stretching out its fore limbs, 
with its brisket almost to the ground. The inspirations are deep, 



318 CATTLE. 

interrupted by sighing, moaning, grinding of the teeth, and occa- 
sionally by hiccup ; the tongue is dry and furred, and red around 
its edges and at the tip ; the belly generally is swelled, more so 
than in the distension of the rumen by food, but less so than in hoove, 
and, as further distinguishing the case from both, it is exceedingly 
tender ; there is frequently distressing tenesmus, and the urine is 
voided with difficulty, and drop by drop. After death, the stomach 
exhibits much inflammation of the lining membrane, but very seldom 
any ulceration. 

The remedies would be bleeding, purgatives, mashes, and gruel. 

It is almost useless to dwell longer on this unsatisfactory portion 
of the subject, except to warn the practitioner against being misled 
by the peculiar softness of the inner lining membrane of the fourth 
stomach of the ox. That which would be said to be diseased 
condition, or softening, or even decomposition of the inner coat of 
the stomach in other animals, is the natural state of the abomasum 
in cattle. 

Homeopathic treatment. — The treatment should be commenced by 
some doses of aconitum, at short intervals, after which the true 
specific is arsenicum, two doses of which are almost always sufficient. 
Oarbo vegetabilis also at times renders great service. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN, LIVER, AND 

PANCREAS. 

THE SPLEEN. 

The spleen, or melt, is a long, thin, dark-colored substance, situated 
on the left side, attached to the rumen, and between that stomach 
and the diaphragm. It is closely tied to the stomach by blood- 
vessels, and cellular texture. It is of a uniform size through its whole 
extent, except that it is rounded at both ends. Of its use we are, in 
a manner, ignorant ; it has been removed without any apparent injury 
to digestion. Its artery is large and tortuous, and its vein is of great 
size, and forms a considerable portion of that which conveys the blood 
from the other contents of the abdomen to the liver. It is probably 
connected either with the functions of the liver, or with the supply 
of some principle essential to the blood. 

It is subject to various diseases, inflammation, ulceration, increased 
size, tubercles, hydatids, ossification ; but in the present state of cat- 
tle medicine it is impossible to state the symptoms by which the 
greater part of these are characterized. 

The occasional seat of disease, the spleen, and which is found most 
especially to have suffered, is too frequently overlooked. A beast in 
high condition, over-driven, or placed in too luxuriant pasture, is 
suddenly taken ill ; he staggers ; his respiration becomes laborious ; 
his mouth is covered with foam ; the tongue burns ; he stands with 
his head stretched out, laboring for breath ; he moans ; blood escapes 
from the nostrils or the anus ; the disease runs its course in the 
space of a few hours, and the animal dies. On opening him, the 
vessels beneath the skin are all gorged with blood ; the skin itself is 
injected and red ; the lungs and abdominal viscera are congested 
with blood ; the liver is gorged with it. It is inflammatory fever 
that has destroyed the animal ; but the speen is most of all affected 
and disorganized — it is augmented in size, softened, its peritoneal 
covering torn, and blood has rushed from it and filled the belly ; or 
the blood has oozed through the investment without any visible 
rupture. 

In such a malady, the skill of the practitioner can be of little avail. 
Had the peculiar determination of disease to the spleen been dis- 
covered, it could not have been arrested ; and all that can be 



320 CATTLE. 

obtained is a lesson of wisdom ; a caution to adopt a more equable 
and less forcing system of feeding, and the avoidance of all those 
causes of general inflammation in which the weakest organ suffers 
most, and by its disorganization, causes, or, at all events, hastens, 
death. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — At the onset, aconitum should be pre- 
scribed in repeated doses, which often suffices to arrest the disease. 
If this result be not attained, and the brown color of the tongue 
increases, we are to have recourse to arsenicum. If nervous symp- 
toms are observed, the animal making deep inspirations, during which 
it shakes the entire body, bryonia is to be employed alternately with 
aconitum. JVux vomica, which is also to be alternated with aconitum, 
is indicated when the splenic region is very painful to the touch, and 
the animal frequently looks towards it. Lauro-cerasus has proved 
useful in a very obstinate case, where the pulse was small, the eye 
fixed, the head directed upward, and the animal insensible, with the 
exception of some convulsive movements, when the affected part was 
touched. 

THE LIVER. 

This organ is situated on the right side of the abdomen, between 
the manyplus and the diaphragm. It is principally supported by a 
duplicature of peritoneum extending from the spine ; and is confined 
in its situation by other ligaments, or similar peritoneal duplicature 
connecting its separate lobes or divisions with the diaphragm. It is 
divided into two lobes of unequal size. The right lobe is the larger ; 
the smaller one is comparatively diminutive. 

The blood from the other contents of the abdomen, instead of 
flowing directly to the heart, passes through the liver. It enters by 
two large vessels, and is spread through every part of the liver b) r 
means of the almost innumerable branches into which these vessels 
divide. As it passes through the liver, a fluid is secreted from it, 
called the bile, probably a kind of excrement, the continuance of 
which in the blood would be injurious, but which, at the same time, 
answers a peculiar purpose in the process of digestion. 

The bile thus secreted flows into the intestines, and enters the 
duodenum through an orifice, the situation of which is marked out 
by A, p. 291. It flows into the intestines as fast as it is secreted or 
separated from the blood ; a portion of it, probably a comparatively 
small portion, however, is received into a reservoir, the gall-bladder, 
where it is retained until needed for the purpose of digestion. While 
the ox is grazing or asleep, there is no necessity for the whole of the 
bile to run on into the intestines, but a part of it accumulates in the 
gall-bladder. While it is retained there, it undergoes some change ; 
part of the water which it contains is absorbed, and the residue 
becomes thickened, and more effective in its operation ; and when the 



INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER. 821 



animal begins to ruminate, and portions of food pass through the 
fourth and true stomach into the duodenum, not only is the flow of 
bile into the gall-bladder stopped, but, either by some mechanical 
pressure on that vessel which no one has yet explained, or, more 
probably, by the sympathy which exists among all the organs of 
digestion, and the influence of the great organic nerve causing the 
(probably) muscular coat of the vessel to contract, the bile flows out 
of its resorvoir, and proceeds to its ultimate destination, along with 
the portion which continues to run directly from the liver into the 
intestine, through the medium of the hepatic duct. This pear-shaped 
reservoir, the gall-bladder, is placed in a depression in the posterior 
face of the liver, and adheres to it by means of a delicate cellular 
texture. The construction of this vessel deserves attention. It has 
the same external peritoneal coat with the viscera generally ; beneath 
is ;i thicker coat, evidently composed of cellular substance, in which 
no muscular fibres have yet been demonstratively traced, but in which 
they may be well conceived to exist, and in which, doubtless, they do 
exist, in order to enable the gall-bladder to contract and expel its 
contents. The inner coat is a very singular one. It has not precisely 
the honeycomb cells of the reticulum in miniature, but it is divided 
into numerous cells of very irregular and different shapes, in the base 
of which, as in the cells of the reticulum, are minute follicular glands 
that secrete a mucous fluid to defend the internal surface of the gall- 
bladder from the acrimony of the bile which it contains. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER. 

Cattle, and especially those that are stall-fed, are subject to inflam- 
mation of the liver. This appears evident enough on examination 
after death, but the symptoms during life are exceedingly obscure, 
and not to be depended upon. An almost invariable one, however, 
is yellowness of the eyes and skin ; but this accompanies, or is the 
chief characteristic of, obstruction of the biliary duct, and possibly 
exists without the. slightest inflammation of the substance of the liver. 
1 1 should also be remembered that there is scarcely any acute disease 
to which cattle are subject, in which the liver does not sympathize. 

Bile is secreted in great abundance in a healthy state of the animal, 
and its secretion is very much increased under almost every intestinal 
disease, on account of the sympathy which exists between the liver 
and the other organs of digestion. The feeding too much on oil-cake 
will produce in most cattle a yellowness of the skin during life, and 
a yellow tinge of the fat and the envelopes of the muscles after death. 

In addition to the common symptoms of fever, (quickness of the 

pulse, heaving, dryness of the muzzle, heat of the mouth and root of 

the horn, listless or suspended rumination,) those that would lead to 

the suspicion of inflammation of the liver would be, lying continually 

14* 



322 CATTLE. 

on the right side, slight spasms on that side, or wavy motions of the 
skin over the region of the liver — a general fullness of the belly, but 
most referable to the right side, and the expression of considerable 
pain when pressure is made on that side. Occasionally, the animal 
looks round on this part, and endeavors to rest his muzzle upon it. 
There is usually some degree of constipation ; the beast does not 
urinate so often or so abundantly as in health, and the urine is yellow 
or brown, or, in a few cases, bloody. 

The proper remedies are bleeding, physic, blisters on the right 
side, and restricted diet, from which everything of a stimulating 
kind is carefully withdrawn. The most frequent causes of this com- 
plaint are blows, over-driving, the use of too stimulating food, and 
the sudden suppression of some cutaneous disease. 

Inflammation of the liver sometimes takes on a chronic form. 
Perhaps it never assumed any great degree of intensity, or the intense 
inflammation was palliated, but not removed ; and this state may 
exist for some months, or years, not characterized by any decided 
symptom, and but little interfering with health. Then commences 
induration, or hardening of a portion of the liver, or of the greater 
part of it, and accompanied by tubercles, vomicae, hydatids, and the 
existence of the fluke-worm in the ducts. 

The difficulty of detecting this chronic inflammation during the 
life of the animal throws much obscurity on the mode of treating it. 
Permanent yellowness of the skin — a constant but not violent 
cough — and the want of, or the slowness in acquiring, condition be- 
yond a certain degree, would be the symptoms of most frequent 
occurrence. The treatment should consist of the frequent exhibition 
of gentle purgatives, with a more than the usual quantity of the aro- 
matic (six ounces of Epsom salts, and half an ounce of ginger,) and 
the food should be green, succulent, and as little stimulating as pos,- 
sible. Mercury, to which recourse is usually had, when a similar 
complaint is suspected to exist in the human subject, would be worse 
than thrown away upon cattle. In the majority of cases in which 
it is used for the diseases of cattle, it produces decidedly injurious 
effect. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The principal remedies are aconitum at 
first, then nux vomica alternately with mercurius vivus. Murias 
magnesia? also deserves to be specially recommended. If the symp- 
toms of jaundice predominate, chamomilla and mercurius vivus should 
be employed, and when hard faeces predominate, nux vomica and 
bryonia. Lycopodium is useful in chronic cases, in the same manner 
as when there are colics which disappear as long as the animal re- 
mains lying down on the left side. 

HEMORRHAGE FROM THE LIVER. 

It has already been observed that when these animals are turned 



JAUNDICE, OR THE YELLOWS. 323 

on the fresh grass in the spring, or the fog in autumn, they are subject 
to various plethoric or inflammatory complaints. The ravages of 
apoplexy and inflammatory fever at these times have been described. 
An undue quantity of blood rapidly formed oppresses the whole 
system, and, from some cause of determination to it, a particular 
organ or part becomes violently congested or inflamed, and the ani- 
mal is destroyed. The liver occasionally suffers in this way. 

A heifer died, and on opening the belly, the cavity was found to 
contain nearly six gallons of blood, which had escaped from a rup- 
ture, two inches in length, in one of the lobes of the liver. 

Certain beasts have died of some obscure disease ; it has been rapid 
in its progress, and not characterized by any symptoms of great in- 
flammation, or the inflammatory symptoms, if such had appeared, 
have subsided, and those of evident and extreme exhaustion have 
succeeded. The pulse has been feeble, or almost indistinct — the 
mouth has been cold — the membranes of the mouth and nose pale. 
The breathing has been accelerated, and the weakness extreme. 
After death, the substance of the liver has been found softened ; it 
has broken on the slightest handling ; it may be washed away, and 
the various vessels which permeate it exposed : the peritoneal cover- 
ing has been loosened — elevated from the liver — and the interval has 
been occupied by a clot of blood ; and from some rupture in this 
covering, which has partaken of the softening of the viscus itself, a 
quantity of blood has been poured out ; or it has oozed through the 
covering, and partially or almost entirely filled the cavity of the ab- 
domen. 

Tn such a case, the resources of medical art would be powerless ; 
but every instance of haemorrhage from the liver should be regarded 
as a warning against the adoption of too forcing a system of fatten- 
ing, especially in yoting beasts, and in the spring or fall of the 
year. 

JAUNDICE, OR THE YELLOWS. 

There are few diseases to which cattle are so frequently subject, 
or which are so difficult to treat, as jaundice, commoniy known by 
the appropriate name of the yellows. It is characterized by a yellow 
color of the eyes, the skin generally, and the urine. Its appearance 
is sometimes sudden ; at other times the yellow tint gradually ap- 
pears and deepens. In some cases it seems to be attended, for a 
while, by little pain or inconvenience, or impairment of condition ; in 
others, its commencement is announced by an evident state of gene- 
ral irritation and fever, and particularly by quickness and hardness of 
pulse, heaving of the flanks, excessive thirst, and the suspension of 
rumination ; to these rapidly succeed depression of spirits, and loss 
of appetite, strength, and condition. The animals can scarcely be 
induced to move, or they separate themselves from the herd, and 



324 CATTLE. 

retiring to the fence, either slowly pace along the side of it, or stand 
hour after hour, listless and half unconscious. Not only the skin, 
but the very hair, gradually becomes yellow ; a scaly eruption ap- 
pears, attended by extreme itching, and sometimes degenerating into 
the worst species of mange. It is seldom, indeed, that bad mange 
appeal's among cattle without being accompanied by a yellow skin ; 
and the cutaneous eruption was probably caused by the presence 
and constant excretion of bile irritating the exhalent vessels of the 
skin. A state of costiveness usually accompanies the yellow skin, at 
least in the early period of the disease, although diarrhoea, which no 
astringents will subdue, may afterwards appear, and, in fact, will 
generally wind up the affair, and carry the patient off. Jaundice 
cannot long exist without being accompanied by general impairment 
of health and loss of condition. Cows are particularly subject to it 
in spring and autumn. The milk soon shares in the yellowness of 
the other secretions, and occasionally acquires an unpleasant and 
bitter taste. 

The usual cause of jaundice is obstruction of the passage of the 
bile from the gall-bladder into the duodenum. This obstruction is 
effected in various ways ; but most frequently by biliary concretions, 
calculi, or gall-stones. During the continuance of the bile in the 
gall-bladder, a certain portion of the water which it contains is re- 
moved by the process of absorption ; the residue becomes propor- 
tionably thickened, and the most solid parts are either precipitated, 
or form themselves into hard masses. Biliary calculi are not unfre- 
quently found in the gall-bladder of cattle, of varying size, from that 
of a pin's head to a huge walnut. Their form indicates that they 
were composed by some process of crystallization ; they are round, 
Avith concentric circles, or conical, or assuming in a rude way the 
form of a cube, or a pentagon, or hexagon. There is usually some 
central portion of harder bile round which the rest is collected. They 
are of less specific gravity than the bile, and even than water, and 
are found swimming in the gall-bladder. They are composed of the 
yellow matter of the bile, with a portion of mucus holding it to- 
gether. It is insoluble in water and alcohol, but it readily diffuses 
itself in a solution of potash. 

So far as can be observed, the presence of these calculi in the gall- 
bladder does not inconvenience the animal, or interfere with health, 
for thev are found in great numbers of slaughtered oxen. At all 
events, there are no recognized symptoms by which their presence 
can be detected, or even suspected. In some cases the writer of 
this work has detected more than a hundred small calculi in the 
bladder of one ox. 

Sometimes, however, they enter the duct (the cystic) which con- 
veys the bile to the intestines. They are likely to do this on account 
of their swimming on the surface of the fluid which the gall-bladder 



JAUNDICE, Oil THE YELLOWS. 325 



contains. The cystic duct is large at its union with the bladder ; it is 
a continuation of the neck of the bladder ; and the gall-stone may- 
be easily pressed into the commencement of the tube : but it has 
scarcely entered it before its passage is obstructed by the folds of the 
inner coat of of the duct. These assume a semilunar form, with the 
edges projecting toward the bladder, and they act as partial valves, 
retarding the progress of the bile, so that it may not be all pressed 
out at once, but gradually escape as the process of digestion may 
require. 

The gall-stone being thus impacted, violent spasmodic action takes 
place in the muscles of the duct, occasioned by the irritation of its 
continued pressure. It is fortunate, however, that, although the 
muscles of these ducts act with some power, the obstruction is usu- 
ally with no great difficulty overcome. The duct distends ; as it 
distends, these valvular folds lie closer to the sides, and no longer 
oppose the passage of the calculus, which is pressed on until it 
reaches the common duct. The caliber of this tube is larger, and, 
unless the calculus is of considerable bulk, no farther difficulty occurs 
until it reaches the opening into the duodenum, which being situated 
in the centre of a muscular prominence, acting as a valve, and pre- 
venting the passege of all matters whether fluid or solid from the 
intestine into the ducts, a new difficulty is opposed to the pro- 
gress of the gall-stones, and there is some return of pain, and in 
a few cases the pain is evidently more intense than in the early 
stage. At length this sphincter muscle of the duodenum dilates ; 
the calculus enters the. intestinal canal ; the pain ceases, and the 
natural color of the skin returns. In this species of jaundice, we 
have, in addition to the yellow skin, the heaving of the flanks, the 
hard concentrated pulse, the diminished appetite, the insatiable thirst, 
and the other symptoms of fever. Then, too, we have the alter- 
nate coldness and heat of the ears, the roughness of the coat, the 
mine becoming first of a transparent yellow, and then opaque red, 
saffron-colored, or brown, and the sediment brown. The bowels 
are constipated, the faeces seldom evacuated, and, when appearing, 
are hard and black. 

Bleeding is now clealy indicated, and that until the animal be- 
comes faint. During this partial sympathy, the muscles of the duct 
may cease their spasmodic constriction, and the calculus may pass 
on. To this should be added powerful purgation, consisting of doses 
of a pound and a half each of Epsom salts, or of a pound of the 
salts, with ten grains of the Croton Tiglii ; the medicine being re- 
peated once in six hours, until purging is produced. Mashes should 
be given, to hasten and increase the action of the physic, and the 
beast should, if possible, be turned out to grass during the day, and 
taken up at night. Opium or digitalis, and particularly the latter, 
may be given, in doses of half a drachm of either, with a view to 



326 CATTLE. 

allay the violent constriction of the duct. From the knowledge that 
biliary concretions dissolve in a solution of potash, considerable quan- 
tities of nitrate and acetate of potash have been given, but with 
doubtful success. Ether, hydrochlorate of ammonia, potash, and 
soda, have also been fruitlessly administered for the same purpose. 

Another mechanical cause of jaundice may be the obstruction 
formed by the fasciola ox fluke-worm. This singular parasite, resem- 
bling in form a little sole, and of the natural history of which, or of 
the changes that it has undergone, or may undergo, nothing is known, 
is found in the livers of cattle, and especially of those that are bred 
in low and marshy situations. They accompany almost every chronic 
disease of the liver, and often exist in the healthy animal. They 
inhabit the ducts into which the bile is poured from the smaller 
vessels of the liver — they are swimming in the bile, and said to be 
generally found working their way against the course of that fluid 

There is no case on record in which it has been proved by exami- 
nation after death that the fluke-worm has mechanically obstructed 
the passage of the bile, and thus caused both the yellowness and the 
spasm, yet it can easily be imagined that this will sometimes occur. 
There are no peculiar symptoms to indicate the existence of these 
worms, for they have never been voided from the mouth or the 
anus : — to the first, there would be a mechanical impediment from 
the construction of both the lower and upper orifices of the stomach ; 
and the digestive process going on through the whole of the intesti- 
nal canal would render the latter improbable, if not impossible. 
Their presence could only be guessed at from the nature of the pas- 
ture, or from their having been found in other beasts of the same 
herd. 

The same means would be adopted as in supposed obstruction by 
a calculus, but with this probable difference, that the obstruction 
would be more easily and quickly removed. 

Of the other species of jaundice in which the attack is more 
gradual, and apparently unconnected with pain, and in which the 
symptoms are weakness, listlessness, cedematous swellings, high- 
colored urine, hardened excrement, declining condition, and occa- 
sional death, anatomical observation has discovered various , causes. 
The state of the liver itself will sometimes account for every symp- 
tom. It may labor under chronic inflammation, without disorganiza- 
tion, and the secretion of bile will be considerably increased, and 
produced more rapidly than the ducts can carry jt off, or than it 
can be disposed of in the process of digestion, and it would lurk in 
the intestines, and be taken up by the absorbents and carried into 
the circulation. At other times the diseased state of the liver pre- 
vents the escape of the bile, whether in its natural or even diminished 
quantity ; thus, general enlargement of the substance of the liver 
will press upon and partially close the biliary ducts — tubercles, or 



JAUNDICE, OR THE YELLOWS. 327 

other tumors in the liver will effect the same thing. Inflammation 
may exist in the ducts themselves. They may become thickened or 
ulcerated, and thus cease to give passage to the bile, which will then 
be taken up by the absorbents of the liver, or mechanically forced 
back upon the vessels whence it was secreted. These are occasional 
causes of jaundice ; and when they exist it will not be wondered 
at that the complaint is obstinate, and too often fatal. 

Sometimes the source of the evil may exist in the duodenum. It 
may be inflamed or ulcerated, or thickened, and so the opening from 
the biliary duct into the intestine may be closed : or the mucus 
which may be secreted in the duodenum may be too abundant, or 
of too viscid a character, and thus also the orifice may be mechani- 
cally obstructed. 

What symptom will indicate to the practitioner which of these 
morbid states of the liver or its ducts, or if the first intestine, is the 
cause of the disease ? or if it did, what means could he adopt in 
such a case with the hope of ultimate success ? The treatment of 
confirmed jaundice is a thankless and disheartening business. The 
practitioner, however, must look carefully and anxiously to the symp- 
toms, and be guided by them. There is no general rule to direct him 
here. If there is evident fever, he must bleed, and regulate his ab- 
straction of blood by the apparent degree of fever. In every case 
but that of diarrhoea, and at the commencement of that, he must 
administer purgatives — in large doses when fever is present, or in 
somewhat smaller quantities, but more frequently repeated, when 
constipation is observed ; and in doses still smaller, but yet sufficient 
to excite a moderate and yet continued purgative action, when nei- 
ther fever nor constipation exists. Considering, however, the natural 
temperament of cattle, the purgative should be accompanied by a 
more than usual quantity of the aromatic, unless the degree of fever 
should plainly forbid it. There are few things respecting which 
veterinary practitioners differ more than the kind of purgative that 
should be administered in this case. Some, who are usually partial 
to the Epsom or Glauber's salts, here prefer the aloes. 

It may not, perhaps, be quite a matter of indifference what purga- 
tive is administered. The Epsom salts here, as in other cases, is the 
safest, the most to be depended upon, and the most effective : but 
the secret of treating jaundice, not with the almost invariable suc- 
cess of which some speak, but with the best prospect of doing good, 
is by the repetition of mild purgatives, accompanied, and their power 
increased, and the digestive powers of the animal roused, and his 
strength supported by the addition of aromatics and stomachics, in 
such doses as the slight degree, or the absence, of fever may indi- 
cate. The author certainly cannot confirm by his testimony the 
opinion of the comparative ease with which the complaint may be 
removed : he has not only found it to be one of the most common 



328 CATTLE. 

affections of the liver, but one of the most untractable and fatal ; and 
this from the insidious manner in which it proceeds until it has fixed 
itself on the constitution beyond the power of medicine to remove it. 
The following short directions comprise all that can be done : — sub- 
due the inflammation or fever by bleeding and physic ; — keep the 
bowels afterwards under the mild but evident influence of purgative 
medicine ; — add aromatics and stomachics to the medicine almost 
from the beginning ; to these, if the strength and condition of the 
animal should appear to be wasting, add tonics — the gentian root 
will stand at the head of them ; — and lastly, when the disease has 
been apparently subdued, a few tonic drinks will restore the appe- 
tite, prepare for the regaining of condition, and re-establish the secre- 
tion of milk. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The chief remedies to be employed are : 
mercurius vivus, nux vomica, and chamomilla. Arsenicum is employ- 
ed, if rumination be suppressed ; and lycopodium, if there be cough. 
Mercurius solubilis is, it is said, specific when the stools are whitish, 
as sometimes happens in acute jaundice. Sulphur has more than 
once sufficed to remove the disease. 

THE PANCREAS. 

This is a long, irregularly formed, flattened gland, confined to the 
left side of the abdomen, in the neighborhood of, but not adhering 
to, the fourth stomach, and mostly connected with the duodenum 
and colon, by mesenteric attachments. It is of a pale red color, and 
evidently composed of an accumulation of small glands, resembling 
salivary ones : each of them is a secreting gland, and a duct proceeds 
from each ; — these unite and form one common canal, which takes its 
course towards the duodenum, unites itself with the biliary duct, 
already described, and enters with it into the duodenum, as repre- 
sented at h, in the cut in p. 291. 

This gland appears to be subject to very few diseases, and the 
symptoms of these diseases are, in the present state of knowledge of 
the pathology of cattle, very imperfectly known. In a few instances, 
enlargement of the pancreas has been found after death ; at other 
times, there have been inflammation, tubercles, a schirrous induration, 
and considerable abscess ; but there were no previous symptoms to 
lead to the suspicion that this gland was the principal seat of disea.se, 
and there were other morbid appearances in the stomachs or intes- 
tines, to indicate sufficient cause of death without reference to the 
state of the pancreas. This is a subject which deserves the attention 
of the veterinary surgeon, and on which no one has yet ventured to 
write. 

We are now prepared to follow the passage of the food from the 
fourth stomach into the intestinal canal. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 

In cattle, the enormous development of the rumen, occupying 
nearly three-fourths of the abdominal cavity, leaves but little room 
for bulky intestines ; the bowels are therefore diminished in size, in 
order that they may be more rapidly packed wherever room can be 
found for them. 

The larger intestines, particularly the colon and caecum, have 
no collated structure, and, consequently, the food will pass through 
them with great rapidity. Lest this, however, should prevent the 
abstraction of all the nutriment which it contains, and thus interfere 
with the destiny of cattle — the furnishing of the human being with 
food while they are living and after they are dead — the intestinal 
canal is greatly prolonged. The intestines of cattle are twenty-two 
times as long as his body. 

It will be remarked (g, p. 291, and fig. 1, on next page,) that the 
duodenum is, at its commencement from the stomach, little larger 
than the jejunum and ileum, which are prolongations ' from it. In 
consequence of the maceration of the food in the rumen, the double 
mastication, and the mechanism of the manyplus, by means of which 
every fibrous particle is seized and ground down, the food is nearly 
dissolved before it enters the fourth stomach ; it is easily completed 
there, and the duodenum has nothing to do of this nature. On this 
account, the duodenum of cattle is little larger than the small intes- 
tines which succeed to it. 

The duodenum and all the intestines have, like the stomachs, 
three coats. The outer one is the peritoneum, or the membrane by 
which all the contents of the belly are invested ; by which also they 
are all confined in their natural situations, and by the smoothness 
and moisture of which, all injurious friction and concussions are 
avoided. The second is the muscular coat, supplied by the motor 
organic nerves, and by means of the contraction of which the food is 
propelled along the intestinal canal in the process of healthy diges- 
tion, or hastened when those muscles are made to contract more 
rapidly and violently under the influence of irritation, whether refer- 



CATTLE. 



able to disease or to some purgative drug. The inner coat is a 
mucous one, thickly studded with minute glands, which, in a state 
of health, secrete sufficient mucous fluid to lubricate the passage ; 
and, under the stimulus of a purgative, throw out a fluid increased 
in quantity, and of a more aqueous character, and in which the con- 
tents of the intestines are softened and involved and carried away. 




1. The Duodenum. 

2. The Jejunum. 

3. The Ileum. 



4. The Caecum. 

5. The Colon. 

6. The Rectum. 



7. The Mesentery. 

8. Mesenteric Glands. 

9. Blood-vessels. 



THE DUODENUM. 

On this coat likewise open the mouths of innumerable vessels — 
the lacteal absorbents — which imbibe or take up the nutritive portion 
of the food. These vessels ramify across the mesentery, and con- 
vey this nutriment to a common duct that passes along it, and by 
means of which it is carried into the great veins in the neighborhood 



THE JEJUNUM AND ILIUM. 331 

of the heart, where it is mixed with the venous blood returned from 
every part. By the power of the heart it is propelled through the 
lungs, where it is purified and vitalized : and having been returned 
to this organ it is driven through other vessels all over the frame, 
and bestows nutriment and life on every part. 

The food, in a state of perfect solution, and under the name of 
chyme, is forced on by the muscular coat of the fourth stomach into 
the duodenum, where another change immediately commences. The 
food is separated into two distinct portions or principles — that 
which is nutritive or capable of being imbibed by the lacteals — a 
white fluid called chyle — and that which is either innutritive, or 
which they reject, and which is piopelled along the intestines and 
finally evacuated. 

There has been much dispute as to the manner in which this 
separation is effected. The chyme that has been formed by the 
agency of the gastric juice may contain in itself a tendency to this 
separation, or precipitation of the excrementitious part ; or this may 
be effected by some fluid secreted from the mucous coat of the du- 
odenum ; or the bile and the pancreatic juice may be the main 
agents in producing the change. 

Ten or twelve inches down the duodenum, as may be seen at h, 
p. 291, two ducts penetrate the coats of that intestine, and pour 
into it the fluid secreted by the pancreas and liver. It would seem 
likely, from the distance from the stomach at which these fluids 
enter, that some change had already taken place in the contents of 
the duodenum, which was to be perfected by means of these auxilia- 
ries. The separation or precipitation is more rapidly and effeclually 
made ; while the bile also has some stimulating effect on the coats 
of the stomach, urging the exhalents and the absorbents, and the 
muscles of the intestines, to stronger and more effectual action ; and 
the pancreatic juice may dilute the biliary secretion, and shield the 
intestine from its occasional too great acrimony. 

While, however, the bile is thus acting in promoting healthy di- 
gestion, (and no animals afford more frequent illustration of the con- 
nection between the biliary secretion and the digestive process than 
cattle do,) the true notion of it is perhaps, that it is an ' excremen- 
titious substance, containing properties that would be noxious to the 
constitution, but, as in most of the contrivances of nature, the mode 
of its evacuation answers another and a salutary purpose. 

The duodenum terminates in the jejunum, but there is no assign- 
able point where the one can be said to terminate and the other 
begin. 

THE JEJUNUM AND ILEUM. 

These intestines, together with the duodenum, the -caecum, and a 
portion of the colon, will be seen (in the cut p. 330, at Jigs. 2 and 3,) 



332 CATTLE. 

to be united together, and enfolded in one common expansion of the 
mesentery. They lie on the right side of the belly, occupying the 
flank, and resting upon the right portion of the rumen. The jejunum 
and the ileum constitute the border of this mesenteric expansion, 
and are disposed in the form of numerous spiral convolutions. If 
they were unfolded, the length of these intestines would, in an ox 
of common size, amount to more than one hundred feet. This 
length of small intestine is designed to compensate for the want of 
development and of cells in the larger ones. The food is detained 
by the length of the passage, and also by the construction of the 
convolutions. The principal absorption of chyle takes place in 
them. 

THE CAECUM. 

It describes a considerable arch (see Jiff. 4, p. 330,) the superior 
extremity of which is fixed to the portion of mesentery common to 
it and the small intestines, while the inferior portion floats loose in 
the abdomen, and is prolonged into the pelvic cavity, where it has a 
rounded termination. The portion of food that can enter into it is 
small, and cannot be detained long there, because there are no lon- 
gitudinal bands to pucker the intestine into numerous and deep cells ; 
but the contents of the ceecum have the character of being more fluid 
than in any other part of the intestinal canal. The length of the 
csecum seldom exceeds a yard. 

THE COLON. 

This intestine is evidently divisible into two parts, (see Jiff. 5. 
p. 330 ;) the one smaller than the caecum is supported by the com- 
mon mesentery ; the other floats loose in the belly, and forms part of 
the second mass of intestines. It has convolutions, but is destitute 
of muscular bands. It is less than the caecum, but combined with 
the next and the last intestine, the rectum, it measures more than 
thirty-three feet. The want of mechanical obstruction to the pass- 
age of the food is thus made up by the increased length of the 
viscera. In the colon, the process of digestion may be considered to 
be in a manner terminated, and all that remains is faaculent matter, 
that continues to be urged on in order to be expelled. 

THE RECTUM. 

This intestine, so called from the straight course which it runs, 
terminates the digestive canal. It has no longitudinal bands, for it 
contains little beside the excrement that is to be discharged, or that 
should least of all be detained. The lacteal absorbents may still be 
traced in this intestine, but it is probable that very little nutritive 
matter is taken up, although, from the occasional hardened state of 
the dung, it is possible that much fluid may be carried off. 



ENLARGEMENT OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 333 

A circular muscle, the sphincter, is always in action at the termi- 
nation of the rectum, to prevent its contents from being involunta- 
rily discharged. Its power is just sufficient for the purpose ; and 
it readily yields, when by the pressure of the abdominal muscles 
and the diaphragm, the excrement is forced against it, in the vol- 
untary efforts of the animal. 

The contents of the rectum in cattle are semi-fluid — their nutritive 
qualities are nearly exhausted, and they are of very inferior value 
for agricultural purposes. 

THE DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 

These are too numerous, and destroy too many of our cattle. 
Those which belong to the membranes that invest or line the intes- 
tines, and that are referable to the greater part, or the whole, of 
their extent, will with most convenience first come under consideration. 
Those which affect only particular viscera, or parts of them, will 
naturally follow. 

ENLARGEMENT OF THE MESENTERIC GLANDS. 

It has been stated that there are numerous vessels, termed lacteals, 
opening on the inner coat of the intestines, in order to convey the 
chyle to the thoracic duct, so that it may mingle with and supply 
the waste of the blood. These little vessels, ere they reach the main 
trunk, pass through a glandular body, in which some unknown 
change is probably effected in the chyle. Some of these mesenteric 
glands are represented at jig. 8, p. 330. These glands occasionally 
become unnatunilly enlarged, and then, whether from the abstraction 
of so much nutriment, in order to contribute to this enlargement, or 
from the unknown change not taking place in the chyle before it 
mingles with the blood, or from the constitutional disturbance which 
the presence of such a body in the abdomen must produce, the 
animal ceases to thrive, his belly becomes enlarged, cough and con- 
sumption nppear, and he gradually wastes away and dies. On exami- 
nation after death, some of the mesenteric glands are of unusual bulk, 
and occasionally have grown to an enormous size. 

A cow having an internal tumor, showing on the right side, died. 
On opening the abdomen, the first thing that presented itself, filling 
the iliac region, was a large mesenteric gland, of irregular form, weigh- 
ing 160 pounds. On making a section through it, its appearance was 
chiefly that of a schirrous deposit. The mesenteric glands generally 
were unhealthy, and many of them were schirrous. This case is a valu- 
able one ; it is the only one on record of schirrous enlargement of the 
mesenteric glands of the ox ; but the recollection of every practitioner 
will furnish him with not a few instances of these tumors unexpectedly 
presenting themselves on examination of the abdomen. They have 
been found chiefly in young beasts that had been bred too much in 



3&1 CATTLE. 

and in, or that had been weakly from other causes, and particularly 
in those that had been subject to chronic cough, associated with 
tubercles in the lungs. In low and damp situations these tumors 
have been found on the mesentery of cattle that have been long 
unthrifty and out of condition, and that have at length died apparently 
in consequence of some other disease. 

The association, however, with these diseases has differed so ma- 
terially in different cases, and the symptoms have been so obscure, or 
so much resembling those of various and almost opposite complaints, 
that they have not yet been satisfactorily classed and arranged. 

The treatment of these mesenteric enlargements, when they are 
suspected and pretty well ascertained, would be a course of mild 
purgatives, mingled with tonics, (the Epsom salts with gentian and 
ginger, a dose sufficient to keep the bowels gently open being admin- 
istered every morning,) with the exhibition of from six to ten grains 
of the hydriodate of potash, at noon and night, and the removal of 
the animal to good and dry pasture. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 

Of this malady there are two species : the first is inflammation of 
the external coat of the intestines, accompanied by considerable fever, 
and usually by costiveness ; the second is that of the internal or 
mucous coat, and generally attended by violent purging. 

The first of these, designated by the term Enteritis, is, in most 
cases, sudden in its attack. Beasts of middle age — strong — in good 
condition, and particularly working cattle, are most subject to it. 
Calves, old beasts, and milch cows are comparatively exempt from it. 
The disease is most frequent in hot weather, and after long-continued 
drought. 

The beast, that on the preceding day seemed to be in perfect 
health, is observed to be dull — depressed — his muzzle dry- — his hair 
rough ; — he shrinks when his loins are pressed upon, and his belly 
seems to be enlarged on the left side. To these symptoms speedily 
succeed disinclination to move — weakness of the hind limbs — trem- 
bling of them — staggering — heaving of the flanks — protrusion of the 
head — redness of the eyes — heat of the mouth and ears and roots of 
the horns, and a small, but rapid pulse, generally varying from 60 to 
80 beats in a minute. Rumination has now ceased ; the appetite is 
lost ; the faeces are rarely voided, and are hard and covered with a 
glazy mucus, and that mucus is sometimes streaked with blood ; — the 
animal also moans with intensity of pain. 

The symptoms rapidly increase ; the patient becomes more de- 
pressed ; the pulse more feeble ; the moaning incessant, and the 
beast is continually down. He becomes half unconscious, and is 
evidently half-blind ; the mouth is filled with foam, and the tongue 
is covered with a browish yellow deposit. There is grinding of the 



INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 335 

teeth, and difficulty in the swallowing of liquids ; a tucked appear- 
ance of the belly, mingling with the enlargement of the left flank — 
and the whole of the belly is exceedingly tender. Until he is too 
weak to raise himself, he is exceedingly restless, lying down, and 
immediately getting up again, and with convulsive movements of the 
muscles of the neck and extremities. The evacuation of the faeces is 
entirely suppressed, or a little stream of liquid excrement forces a 
passage through the hardened mass by which the rectum is distended, 
and that which is voided has an exceedingly fetid and putrid smell. 
This symptom is characteristic. The person who is accustomed to 
cattle says that the beast is fardel-bound or sapped, but he often 
mistakes the nature of the case, and fancies that diarrhoea instead of 
costiveness exists. The urine becomes thick and oily and brown, and 
has a peculiarly disagreeable and penetrating smell. As the disease 
proceeds, the weakness and suffering increase, until the animal dies, 
sometimes exhausted, but mostly in convulsions, and frequently 
discharging a bloody fetid fluid from the mouth, the nose, and the 
anus. 

Sometimes, when the disease has not been attacked with sufficient 
energy, and often in despite of the most skillful treatment, other symp- 
toms appear. The animal seems to amend ; the pulse is slower and 
more developed — rumination returns — the patient eats a little — the 
enlargement of the flanks subsides — the excrement, whether hard or 
fluid, is more abundantly discharged : but the beast is sadly thin — he 
is daily losing ground — his coat stares — the hair is easily detached — 
the skin clings to the bones — he is sometimes better, and sometimes 
worse, until violent inflammation again suddenly comes on, and he is 
speedily carried off. 

On examination after death, the first thing that presents itself is the 
engorgement of the sub-cutaneous vessels with black and coagulated 
blood, and the discoloration of the muscles, softened in their consist- 
ence and becoming putrid. The abdomen exhibits the effusion of a 
great quantity of bloody fluid ; eight, ten, and twelve gallons have 
been taken from it. The peritoneum is inflamed — almost universally 
so ; — there are black and gangrenous patches in various parts, and on 
others there are deposits of flaky matter, curiously formed, and often 
curiously spotted. The liver is enlarged, and its substance easily 
torn ; the rumen is distended with food, generally dry, and its lining 
membrane inflamed and injected, and of a purple or blue tint ; the 
reticulum does not escape the inflammatory action ; the manyplus is 
filled with dry and hard layers, which cannot be detached without 
difficulty from the mucous membrane of that stomach ; the fourth 
stomach is highly inflamed, with patches of a more intense character, 
and its contents are liquid and bloody, particularly towards the pyloric 
orifice. The small intestines contain many spots of ulceration, the 
lining membrane is everywhere inflamed, and they are filled with an 



336 CATTLE. 

adhesive or bloody mucous fluid ; the larger intestines are even more 
inflamed ; they exhibit more extensive ulceration, and contain many 
clots of effused blood. The rectum is ulcerated and gangrenous from 
end to end. 

There is usually considerable effusion in the chest ; the coverings 
of the lungs are inflamed ; the bag of the heart more so ; the sub- 
stance of the lungs is sometimes emphysematous, and at other times 
gorged with blood, and the heart is marked with black spots out- 
wardly, and in its cavities. The lining membrane of all the air-pass- 
ages is of a red brown color ; the larynx and the pharynx are 
intensely red, and so is the membrane of the gullet. 

Of the causes of this disease it is difficult to speak. It seems 
occasionally to be epidemic, for several instances of it occur, of the 
same character, and in the same district. 

When isolated cases occur, they may generally be attributed to 
mismanagement. Exposure to cold, or the drinking of cold water 
when heated with work ; too hard work in sultry weather ; the use 
of water stagnant, impure, or containing any considerable quantity of 
metallic salts ; the sudden revulsion of some cutaneous eruption ; the 
crowding of animals into a confined place ; too luxuriant and stimu- 
lating food generally ; and the mildewed and unwholesome food on 
which cattle are too often kept, are fruitful sources of this complaint. 

Homaiopathic treatment. — Aconitum is to be given in doses repeated 
every fifteen or twenty minutes, until the most prominent symptoms 
of the inflammation have disappeared. If this end be not attained 
after some hours, or if, notwithstanding a perceptible improvement, 
pain still remains, arsenicum is to be given. The medicine alternately 
with aconitum, has sometimes, it is said, produced good effects. It 
is particularly indicated when the disease has been occasioned by 
cold drinks, or by improper food and disturbance of digestion. 
When aconitum and arsenicum fail, we must have recourse to carbo 
vegetabilis and rhus toxicodendron. 

WOOD-EVIL, MOOR-ILL, PANTAS. 

These are but varieties of the same disease, frequently produced, 
as the first name would import, by browsing on the young buds of 
trees, and particularly on those of the ash and the oak. These 
buds are tempting to cattle at the commencement of the spring, but 
they ai-e of too acrid and stimulating a character to be eaten with 
impunity in any considerable quantities. Heat of the mouth and skin 
— redness of the membranes — thirst — obstinate constipation — hard- 
ness of the little faeces that are expelled — the covering of them with 
mucus and blood — difficulty of voiding urine, and its red color and 
penetrating odor — colicky pains — depression — are the characteristic 
symptoms of this disease. 

Some veterinarians give the name of wood-evil to complaints allied 



WOOD-EVIL, MOOR-ILL, PANTAS. 337 

to rheumatism, or being essentially rheumatic ; others consider it to 
be a disease of debility, looking to the consequence of inflammation, 
and not to the inflammation itself. If any distinction were drawn 
between wood-evil and enteritis in cattle, it would be, that although 
in wood-evil there seems to be more affection of the head, and the 
animal appears now and then as if it were rabid, there is not so much 
intestinal inflammation, and the disease dose not so speedily run its 
course. Wood-evil may last from twelve to twenty days. 

The prognosis, or expectation of the termination of the disease, is 
always unfavorable when after a certain time much fever comes on, 
or the costiveness will not give way, or the urine is thick or bloody, 
or the disease attains its full intensity in the space of a few days. 
Then, instead of terminating in resolution, the inflammation runs on 
to gangrene ; all the acute symptoms suddenly disappear, and death 
is not far distant. On the other hand, the result will be favorable 
when the disease does not reach that degree of intensity of which 
it is capable — when, after a few days, the symptoms gradually dis- 
appear, and the animal regains his former habits, and the excrement 
resumes its natural form and consistence. 

The history that has been given of this disease will leave little 
doubt respecting the course of treatment that should be pursued. A 
malady of so intensely an inflammatory character should be met by 
prompt and decisive measures : and to them it will, in its early 
stage, generally yield. Nothing is so easy as to give relief to a 
sapped or fardel-bound beast, before he begins to heave at the flanks 
or ceases to ruminate ; but quickness of breathing, and heat of the 
mouth, and evident fever, being once established, the animal will 
probably be lost. 

The patient should be bled. If it be simple costiveness without 
fever, the abstraction of six or eight quarts of blood may suffice ; 
but if the symptoms of inflammation cannot be misunderstood, the 
measure of the bleeding will be the quantity that the animal will 
lose before he staggers or falls. Purgatives should follow — the first 
dose being of the full strength, and assisted by quickly repeated 
ones, until quick purging is produced. Hot water, or blisters, should 
be applied to the belly, and the food of the beast should be re- 
stricted to gruel and mashes. This will, in most cases, include the 
whole of the treatment. 

If other spmptoms should arise, or other parts appear to be in- 
volved, the practitioner will change his mode of proceeding accord- 
ingly ; but he will be cautious how he gives aromatics or tonics, 
until he is convinced that the state of fever has passed over, and 
circumstances indicate the approach of debility and of typhus fever. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Ipecacuanha and veratrum, alternately, 
every quarter of an hour, are the means by which this disease has 
been cured, which, in general, proceeds with great rapidity. Acon- 
itum and arsenicum might be most properly administered. 



338 CATTLE. 



DIARRHCEA AND DYSENTERY. 



The distinction between these two diseases, and it is of essential 
importance to observe it in the treatment of cattle, is, that diarrhoea 
consists in the evacuation of faecal matter, in an undue quantity, and 
more than naturally liquid form. In dysentery, more or less mucus, 
or mucus and blood combined, mingles with faeces. 

The frequent and abundant evacuation of faecal matter, whether 
with or without mucus, may be considered either as simple, or con- 
nected with other diseases. In its former state it will be the sub- 
ject of present consideration, and may be regarded as acute or 
chronic. Acute diarrhoea may be produced by various causes ; — the 
abuse of purgatives, by their being administered in too active a form 
— feeding on certain poisonous plants — sudden change of food, gen- 
erally from dry to green aliment, but occasionally from green to dry 
— excess of food — the drinking of bad water — or by some humid and 
unhealthy state of the atmosphere. From the last cause it usually 
assumes an epizootic character, particularly in autumn. A great 
many cows in a certain district are suddenly attacked by it, although 
there is no reason to suspect that it is in the slightest degree conta- 
gious. 

Calves and milch cows are far more subject to this species of in- 
testinal, inflammation than are full grown or working oxen. 

The proper treatment of acute diarrhoea will consist in the ad- 
ministration of a mild purgative, in order to carry off any source of 
irritation in the intestinal canal ; the abstraction of blood, if there 
be any degree of fever, and in proportion to that fever ; and then the 
exhibition of alkalies and astringents. The most effectual medicines 
are prepared chalk, opium, catechu, and ginger, in the proportions 
of one ounce of the first, one drachm of the second, four drachms 
of the third, and two of the last, in each dose, and to be adminis- 
tered in thick gruel. 

This will generally be successful : but, occasionally, these acute 
cases of diarrhoea are obstinate and fatal ; and too often it happens 
that what has been represented to the practitioner as a sudden 
attack turns out to be the winding up of some chronic" disease, and 
he does not discover the mistake until it is too late. 

Diarrhoea is not always to be considered as a disease. It is often 
a salutary effort of nature to get rid of that which would be inju- 
rious ; or it is a somewhat too great action of certain of the di- 
gestive organs, which soon quiet down again to their natural and 
healthy function. An occasional lax state of the bowels in calves is 
known to be favorable to the acquirement of fat ; and a beast that 
is well purged on being first turned on spring-grass or turnips, 
thrives far more rapidly than another that is little, or not at all, 
affected by the change. Diarrhoea, in some critical stages of disease, 



DIARRHCEA AND DYSENTERY. 339 

is to be hailed as the precursor of health, rather than feared as the 
attack of a new malady : it should be so in pneumonia, red "water, 
and puerperal fever. All that is then to be done is to prevent its 
becoming so violent as to depress the vital energies. Diarrhoea may 
assume a chronic form, with greater or less severity, and producing 
loss of condition and debility ; it may be prolonged for many a 
month, and even for years, and at length terminate fatally. This is 
often the case with cows that have been drained of their milk and 
badly kept. The diarrhoea of calves will be considered when the 
diseases of those animals come under notice. 

The treatment of chronic diarrhoea is difficult and unsatisfactory. 
Purgatives cannot be dispensed with, but they must be administered 
with considerable caution. Both the medicine and the quantity 
should be well considered, for if the aperient be not strong enough, 
the disorder will be increased and prolonged ; and if it be too strong, 
both these effects will be produced to a greater extent, and fatal 
inflammation and superpurgation may ensue. Castor oil will be the 
safest, and the most effectual medicine, in doses from a pint to a 
quart : and a small quantity, ten grains, of powdered opium, will not 
interfere with the aperient quality of the oil, while it may allay irri- 
tation. After two doses of the oil have been given, the powder 
already recommended ma}' be tried, but with a double quantity of 
ginger, and half a drachm of powdered gentian. After a while, a 
drachm of Dover's powder may be given, morning and night ; and, 
that also ceasing to have effect, the first powder may again be ad- 
ministered. Alum whey is often of considerable service. If the 
animal be turned out, it should be on the driest pasture, but it will 
be better for her to be kept up with plenty of hay, and gruel to 
drink. 

Homoeopathic treatment — The cure of diarrhoea is effected by 
different means. In the diarrhoea which bursts out suddenly, or the 
acute form, we should commence with a couple of doses of aconitum, 
at short intervals ; after which, in most cases, arsenicum and ipeca- 
cuanha are very effectual. The diarrhoea brought on by cold often 
yields to aconitum alone, as that resulting from any irregularity in 
diet yields to arsenic. If in the latter case there be also loss of ap- 
petite, and if arsenic does not effect a cure, pulsatilla should be 
given, or, when there is an absolute repugnance to food, antimonium 
crudum, especially when the diarrhoea alternates periodically with 
constipation. If there be frequent dejections without pain, we have 
resource to rheum. Astirum is useful, if the evacuations are fluid, 
and sometimes mixed with bloody mucus. 

In the treatment of chronic diarrhoea, beside china, sulphur, cha- 
momilla, and veratrum, which have been found useful more than once, 
we should employ acidum phosphor icum, bryonia, calcarea acetica, dul- 
camara, magnesia, carbonica, petroleum and phosphorus. Diarrhoea is 



340 CATTLE. 

usually accompanied with a general morbid state, with respect to 
which we are to choose, among these several means, that which 
suits best. Sulphur and arsenicum are the principal remedies for 
diarrhoea in calves. 

It is, however, with dysentery that the practitioner is most loth 
to cope — a disease that destroys thousands of our cattle. This also 
may be either acute or chronic. Its causes are too often buried in 
obscurity, and its premonitory symptoms are disregarded or unknown. 
There appears to be a strong predisposition in cattle to take on this 
disease. It seems to be the winding up of many serious complaints, 
and the foundation of it is sometimes laid by those that appear to 
be of the most trifling nature. It is that in cattle which glanders and 
farcy are in the horse — the breaking up of the constitution. 

Dysentery may be a symptom and a concomitant of other diseases. 
It is one of the most fearful characteristics of murrain ; it is the 
destructive accompaniment or consequence of phthisis. It is pro- 
duced by the sudden disappearance of a cutaneous eruption ; it fol- 
lows the secession of chronic hoose ; it is the consequence of the 
natural or artificial suspension of every secretion. Were any secre- 
tion to be particularly selected, the repression of which would pro- 
duce dysentery, it would be that of the milk. How often does the 
farmer observe that no sooner does a milch cow cease her usual sup- 
ply of milk, than she begins to purge ? There may not appear to 
be anything else the matter with her, but she purges, and in the ma- 
jority of cases that purging is fatal. 

It may, sometimes, however, be traced to sufficient causes, exclu- 
sive of previous disease. Unwholesome food — exposure to cold — 
neglect at the time of calving— low and marshy situations — the feed- 
ing on meadows that have been flooded (here it is peculiarly fatal) — 
the grazing upon the clays lying over the blue lias rock — the 
neighborhood of woods, and of half stagnant rivers — the continua- 
tion of unusually sultry weather — over-work, and all the causes of 
acute dysentery may produce that of a chronic nature — or acute 
dysentery neglected, or badly, or even most skillfully treated, may 
degenerate into an incurable chronic affection. Half starve a cow, 
or overfeed her, milk her to exhaustion, or dry her milk too rapidly, 
dysentery may follow. 

The following may probably be the order of the spmptoms, if they 
are carefully observed. There will be a little dullness or anxiety 
of countenance, the muzzle becoming: short and contracted — a slight 
shrinking when the loins are pressed upon — the skin a little harsh 
and dry — the hair a little rough — there will be a slight degree of 
uneasiness, and shivering, that scarcely attracts attention — then (ex- 
cept it be the degeneracy of acute into chronic dysentery) constipa- 
tion may be perceived — it will be to a certain degree obstinate — 
the excrement will be voided with pain — it will be dry, hard, and 



DIARRHCEA AND DYSENTERY. 341 

expelled in small quantities. In other cases, perhaps, purging will 
be present from the beginning ; the animal will be tormented with 
tenesmus, or frequent desire to void its excrement, and that act at- 
tended by straining and pain, by soreness about the anus, and pro- 
trusion of the rectum ; and sometimes by severe colicky spasms. 
In many cases, however, and in those of a chronic form, few of these 
distressing symptoms are observed even at the commencement of the 
disease, but the animal voids her faeces oftener than it is natural that 
she should, and they are more fluid than in a state of health ; but 
at the same time, she loses her appetite and spirits and condition, 
and is evidently wasting away. 

In acute cases, if the disease does not at once destroy the animal, 
the painful symptoms disappear, and little remains but a greater or 
less degree of dullness, disinclination to food, rapid decrease of con- 
dition, and frequent purging. The faeces are often voided in a pecu- 
liar manner; they are ejected with much force, and to a considera- 
ble distance, and the process of shooting has commenced. The 
faeces, too, have altered their character ; a greater quantity of mu- 
cus mingles with them ; sometimes it forms a great proportion of 
the matter evacuated, or it hangs in strings, or accumulates layer 
after layer under the tail. The farmer and the practitioner anxiously 
examine the evacuation. As the thin mass falls on the ground, 
bubbles are formed upon it. They calculate the time that these 
vesicles remain unbroken. If they burst and disappear immediately, 
the observer does not quite despair ; but if they remain several 
minutes on the surface of the dung, he forms an unfavorable opinion 
of the case, for be knows that these bladders are composed of the 
mucus that lined the intestines, and which is not separated from them 
except under circumstances of great irritation ; or which being 
thrown off, the denuded membrane is exposed to fatal irritation. In 
this state the beast may remain many weeks, or months ; sometimes 
better, and sometimes worse ; and even promising to those who 
know little about the matter that the disease will gradually subside. 
The farmer, however, has a term for this malady, too expressive of 
the result, although not strictly applicable to what is actually taking 
place within the animal. She is rotten, he says, and she dies as if 
she were so. There are cases of recovery, but they are few and 
far between. Most cases gradually draw to a close. The beast is 
sadly wasted — vermin accumulate on him — his teeth become loose — 
swellings appear under the jaw, and he dies from absolute exhaus- 
tion ; or the dejections gradually change their character — blood 
mingles with the mucus — purulent matter succeeds to that — it is 
almost insupportably fetid — it is discharged involuntarily — gangren- 
ous ulcers about the anus sometimes tell of the process that is going 
on within ; and, at length, the eyes grow dim and sunk in their orbits, 
the body is covered with cold perspiration, and the animal dies. 



342 CATTLE. 

In some cases the emaciation is frightful ; the skin cleaves to the 
bones, and the animal has become a living skeleton ; in others there 
have been swellings about the joints, spreading over the legs gen- 
erally, occasionally ulcerated ; and in all, the leaden color of the 
membranes, the rapid loss of strength, the stench of the excrement, 
and the unpleasant odor arising from the animal himself, announce 
the approach of death. 

The appearances after death are extraordinarily uniform, consid- 
ering of how many diseases this is the accompaniment or the conse- 
quence, and the length of time that it takes to run its course, and 
during which so many other organs might have been readily involved. 
The liver is rarely in any considerable state of disease. The first and 
second stomachs are seldom much affected ; the third stomach pre- 
sents a variable appearance with regard to the state of the food that 
it contains, and which is sometimes exceedingly hard, and sometimes 
almost pultaceous, but there is no inflammation about the stomach 
itself. The fourth stomach exhibits a peculiar change : there is an 
infiltration or collection of serous fluid in the cellular substance be- 
tween the mucous and muscular coat, showing some, but no very 
acute, degree of inflammation in the submucous tissue. The small 
intestines are frequently without a single trace of inflammation, but 
sometimes, however, the} r are thickened and corrugated, but not in- 
jected. It is in the caecum, colon, and rectum, that the character 
of the disease is to be distinctly and satisfactorily traced. 

The account of these post mortem appearances is given at considera- 
ble length, because they clearly indicate the hitherto unsuspected na- 
ture of the disease — unsuspected at least among veterinarians ; and 
they will probably lead to a mode of treatment that promises a 
little more success than has hitherto attended the efforts of practi- 
tioners. It is plainly inflammation (at first acute, but gradually 
assuming a chronic, a more insidious and dangerous form,) of the 
large intestines, the colon, c&cum, and rectum ; it is the dysentery of 
the human being ; it is that which was once the scourge of the human 
race, but thousands of whose victims are now rescued from its grasp 
by the discovery of its real seat and character, and the adoption of 
those measures which such a disease plainly indicates. 

If this malady be of an inflammatory type, the first, and most ob- 
vious, and most beneficial measure to be adopted, is bleeding; and 
this regulated by the age, size, and condition of the beast, the sud- 
denness and violence of the attack, and the degree of fever. From 
two to five or six quarts of blood should be abstracted. There must 
be very great debility — the disease must in a manner have run its 
course, or the practitioner will be without excuse who, in a case of 
inflammation of the large intestines, neglects the abstraction of blood. 
General bleeding — bleeding from the jugular — will be of service, as 
lessening the general irritation, and the determination of blood to the 



DIARRHCEA AND DYSENTERY. 343 

part ; but in this case the practitioner can in some measure avail 
himself of the advantage of local bleeding, for by opening the sub- 
cutaneous or milk vein he takes blood from the parietes of the abdo- 
men, and from that portion of them which is nearest to the inflamed 
part. The repetition of the bleeding must depend on circumstances, 
of which the practitioner will be the best judge. 

Another abater of inflammation will be a mild aperient. A little 
consideration will show that this is not contra-indicated even by the 
degree of purging which then exists ; for the retention of matter, 
such as that discharged in dysentery, must be a far greater source 
of irritation than the stimulus of a mere laxative. 

The kind of medicine is a consideration of far more consequence 
than seems to be generally imagined. There would be a decided 
objection to the aloes so frequently resorted to in these cases : there 
would be some degree of doubt respecting that excellent and best 
medicine for general purposes, the Epsom salts. Both of them might 
add to the excessive irritation which the practitioner is so anxious to 
allay. Castor oil will here, as in acute diarrhoea, be decidedly pre- 
ferred, and in the same doses. Some judgment will be required as 
to the repetition of the purgative. Its object is the simple evacua- 
of morbid faecal matter, and not the setting up of any permanently 
increased action of the bowels : therefore, if, instead of the com- 
paratively scanty and mucous discharges of dysentery, a fair quantity 
of actual faeces has been brought away, there can be no occasion 
for, or, rather, there would be objection to, the continuance of the 
purgative. Linseed oil certainly stands next in value to the castor 
oil as an aperient, when the bowels are in an irritable state. 

This being inflammation of the large or lower intestines, there will 
be evident propriety in the administration of emollient injections. By 
means of the injection or enema-pump, the intestines in the ox, 
which are the seat of this disease, may be completely filled with 
some emollient fluid ; and that which is most of all indicated here, 
and especially in the early stage of treatment, is gruel, well-boiled 
and thick ; a pailfull of it may be thrown up with advantage two or 
three times every day. 

Let it now be supposed that this treatment has been pursued 
two or three days ; — if the discharges are more faecal, a little great- 
er in quantity, and attended by less pain or less effort in the expul- 
sion of them, that purpose has been effected which the practitioner 
was anxious to accomplish, and he must look about for other mea- 
sures ; or, if the state of the animal remain the same, it will be 
useless longer to pursue this plan. Then the surgeon refers once 
more to the character of the malady — inflammation of the mucous 
membrane of the large intestines — and he asks what he can bring in 
direct contact with the diseased surface, that is likely to allay irrita- 
tion or to abate inflammation. Opium immediately presents itself, at 



344 CATTLE. 

once an astringent and an anodyne — an astringent, because it is an 
anodyne — and he determines to give it in doses of half a drachm, 
and in the best form in which it can be administered, namely, in that 
of powder, mixed with thick gruel. He likewise adds it to the gruel 
of the injection, either under the form of powder, or he boils a few 
poppy-heads in water, and then causes the gruel to be made with 
the decoction. 

Here all practitioners seem to agree. Whether they prepare the 
way for the opium by the administration of an aperient, or whether, 
deceived by the state of purging, they give it at once, they are all 
anxious to try the power of this drug ; but too many of them, either 
forgetting or not knowing the nature of the disease, add medicines of 
an opposite character, and that cannot fail of being injurious. They 
administer astringents and tonics, which are useful and indispensable 
in a later stage of the treatment, but, while the inflammation re- 
mains unsubdued, are only adding fuel to fire. There are too many 
practitioners who scruple not to give alum and sulphate of zinc as 
soon as they are called in to such a case, and before the lining 
membrane of the intestines is prepared for their action. These drugs 
are acrid — they are caustic as well as astringent — they are astrin- 
gent because they are caustic, and they too frequently set up an- 
other and destructive inflammation. 

It is usual, however, to add something to the opium, in order to 
increase or to regulate, or to modify its power ; and that which is 
without comparison the most serviceable is one of the mild prepara- 
tions of mercury, viz., calomel, or the blue pill, or mercury triturated 
Avith chalk. Mere theory might induce the fear that mercury would 
add to the irritation already too unmanageable, and so it would, if 
given alone ; but, combined with .and guarded by the opium, it has 
the most beneficial effect : the opium does not produce costiveness — 
the calomel does not gripe and purge, but irritation is allayed, while 
the natural action of the bowels is promoted. 

In order that this mode of treatment may have a fair chance, the 
beast should be housed and fed on bran-mashes, a little hay, and 
plenty of well boiled gruel. While the patient continues at grass, 
the practitioner has no chance, however skillful in other respects his 
treatment may be. So much depends on the avoidance of all green 
and succulent food, that many a beast, from whom every symptom of 
dysentery had disappeared, has relapsed, and been lost, from having 
been turned out too soon. The green food of one day has produced 
irreparable mischief. 

There are other auxiliary measures which deserve consideration. 
Setons in the dewlap have been strongly recommended. They may 
be useful when much fever accompanies the early stage of dysentery, 
for they will, in some measure, divert the current of blood from the 
inflamed and irritated part, and thus lessen the local inflammation 



DIARRHOEA AND DYSENTERY. 345 

and discharge, and also the general fever ; but no very material de- 
gree of benefit can be expected from them ; and there certainly 
cannot be that importance which is sometimes attached to the sub- 
stance or the root that is inserted. The common cord, or hair-rope, 
will answer every purpose : the black hellebore root, however, pro- 
duces the speediest inflammation and the most copious discharge. 

Fomentation of the right flank and the right side of the belly with 
hot water, or, in acute cases, the blistering of those parts, will be far 
more serviceable than any seton in the dewlap can possibly be. 

That admirable disinfectant, the chloride of lime, promises to be 
of essential service in the treatment of dysentery ; not only in chang- 
ing the nature of the intestinal discharge, and depriving it of all 
its putridity, but in disposing the surface of the intestine, with which 
it may be brought into contact, to assume a more healthy character. 
When applied externally to wounds and ulcers of every kind, it 
effects wonders in both of these respects ; and, being properly 
diluted, it has not been found to give any great pain, or dangerously 
to increase inflammation in the most irritable ulcer. It may be ad- 
ministered either by the mouth, or in the form of clyster. The 
practitioner will probably avail himself of its aid in both forms. It 
should not be mingled with any other drug ; but half an ounce of 
the solution, or a drachm of the powder, may be mixed with a 
quart of water, and given between the regular periods for the ad- 
ministration of the other remedies. 

The reader will mind the caution as to the mode of administering 
liquid medicine to cattle ; for in a disease so serious and so fatal as 
dysentery, it cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind of the 
practitioner. Whether the medicine be given by means of the horn 
or the pump, it should flow as gently as possible down the gullet, 
that it may not break through the floor of the cesophagean canal, 
but have a better chance of passing on to the fourth stomach and 
the intestines. 

In this, as well as in the chronic stage of dysentery, a great deal 
more depends upon attending to the comfort of the animal than too 
many seem to believe. The patient should be housed, and well lit- 
tered down, and, in some cases, moderately clothed. Of his food, 
little portions at a time should be culled for him and offered to him ; 
and warm gruel and warm mashes should be frequently put within 
his reach. There can be no doubt that more benefit is connected 
Avith that one word comfort, than can be procured from half the 
drugs which the veterinary pharmacopoeia contains. 

In many cases, and in every case that can be brought to a suc- 
cessful termination, it will be observed, after the perseverance of ten 
days or a fortnight in this mode of treatment, that the pain preceding 
and accompanying the evacuations is materially lessened, and that 
the nature of the matter evacuated is changed. The stools will pro- 
15* 



346 CA TTLE. 

bably be as frequent ; they will be more copious ; but less mucus 
will be found in them, and they will have become more decidedly 
faecal and not so offensive. The belly will be less tender ; the coun- 
tenance less anxious ; the general appearance improved. The inflam- 
mation of the inner surface of the large intestines will have materi- 
ally subsided, but the habit of purgation will continue for a while, 
and will be increased by the state of relaxation and debility in 
which the vessels are left. Then, but not until then, astringents 
will be admissible and highly beneficial. 

Catechu stands at the head of this class of medicines in such a 
case ; and its power may be increased by the addition of oak bark, 
or it may be given in a decoction of oak bark. The opium must not, 
however, be omitted ; for although direct inflammation may have 
been subdued, and relaxation and debility have followed, much irrita- 
bility may remain, to control which the soothing power of opium will 
be required. 

To catechu and opium it has been usual to add chalk ; for in all 
these diseases there is a tendency in the stomach, and probably in the 
intestinal canal, to generate a considerable quantity of acid. A 
greater source of irritation can scarcely be imagined when the state 
of the lining membrance of the large intestine is taken into considera- 
tion. The chalk, or the carbonic acid of the chalk, will unite with 
and neutralize this acid, and render it harmless. Theoretic chemistry 
would lead to the substitution of magnesia for the chalk, for the 
carbonic acid being withdrawn, it might be feared that the caustic 
lime would be injurious ; but experience has proved that magnesia is 
not so efficacious in cattle ; that, in fact, it seems to be almost inert, 
while chalk has usually answered the purpose intended, and no 
inconvenience has resulted from it. 

Some practitioners strangely mingle vegetable and mineral tonics 
together, forgetful of the decomposition which frequently, or almost 
constantly, ensues, and the impairment or total loss of medicinal power. 
Vegetable astringents agree best with the constitution of cattle, and 
they will not often deceive. 

The nature of the disease, however, being considered, will the 
practioner confine himself to the astringents ? He has now to strug- 
gle with the consequences of inflammation — the weakness and want 
of tone which inflammation has produced, not only in the part itself 
but in the whole system. He will also take into consideration the 
natural temperament and constitution of cattle ; and that they will 
not bear disease, nor the treatment of disease, like some other animals. 
Diseases speedily run their course in cattle, and the patients often 
sink under the prompt and vigorous and scientific treatment of the 
malady. An ox may bear one copious bleeding well ; but he cannot 
be bled again and again. He will derive the usual advantage from 
purgation to a certain extent, but care must be taken lest it degen- 



, 



DIAKRHCEA AND DYSENTERY. 347 

erate into the disease which is now under consideration. The practi- 
tioner will therefore mingle stomachics, and pi-obably tonics, with his 
astringents, in this case. Here also he will find the vegetable the 
best. Experience of its beneficial effect has made ginger a necessary 
ingredient in almost every medicine, unless the animal evidently 
labors under fever. Gentian is an admirable tonic and stomachic ; 
and if to these be added Colombo and cascarilla, there is sufficient 
choice. The proportions of the different medicines will necessarily 
vary with the age and strength of the animal, and the character, 
duration, and ravages of the disease. 

Vegetable astringents and tonics having been fairly tried, and 
either not producing the desired effect, or beginning to lose their 
power, the mineral ones may be resorted to. The preference should 
undoubtedly be given to alum, and that in the common and very 
convenient form of alum whey. (See List of Medicines.) To this 
the usual quantity of ginger may be added without producing decom- 
position ; and, if it should be deemed advisable, the opium may be 
continued. Should this not succeed, or not to the full extent wished, 
blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) may be substituted ; and to this 
the opium will be a necessary auxiliary. The dose should be about 
one drachm of the former and half a drachm of the latter. There is 
no other mineral astringent or tonic that can be depended on or safely 
given. 

Clysters should not be neglected in this stage of the disease. 
With the assistance of the injection-pump, they promise to be as 
efficacious as any medicines that can be administered by the mouth, 
for they may be brought into immediate contact with the inflamed or 
ulcerated surface. Gruel may be made with a decoction of poppy- 
heads, already recommended. To this may succeed an infusion of 
catechu, decoction of oak-bark, and with or without opium ; and 
possibly a weak solution of alum or blue vitriol. The practitioner 
will here, however, proceed with considerable caution. 

The malady being apparently subdued, there will be need for much 
caution in the after-treatment of the animal. He must not soon 
return altogether to green meat, and more especially not to luxuriant 
pasture. The best way to prevent diarrhoea is to continue to 
give a small quantity of hay for some time after turning to grass, and 
not to keep him too many hours at a time from water. When 
coming on, keep the ox as much as possible on hay and bran, and let 
him have water often in small quantities. 

For a long period after a severe attack of this complaint, the animal 
will be subject to occasional diarrhoea, and will require careful man- 
agement. The best thing to be done is to get him, as quickly as the 
state of his constitution will admit, into fair condition, and sell him ; 
but there will be some difficulty jn accomplishing this, for abundance 
even of the most wholesome food will often be more than his debili- 



.1 



348 CATTLE. 

tated powers of digestion can manage, and hoove, or diarrhoea, or 
dysentery, will ensue. At the best, he will rarely be got beyond fair 
condition, and with that the farmer must be content. While there are 
manv cases of permanent recovery from dysentery, there are but few 
cases in which the patient has afterwards grazed and fatted as well 
as any other beast. 

However perfect may seem to be the cure, the animal that has 
once been a decided shooter should never be bred from. There is a 
taint about him which will almost certainly be communicated to his 
stock. Dysentery is not only the pest of certain districts, and espe- 
cially of cold and wet ones, but of certain breeds. But there is not 
the slightest reason for believing that the dysentery of cattle is 
contagious. . 

As the large intestines are the principal, and, in most cases, the 
only seat of that inflammation which is characterized by the term 
dysentery, other intestines are occasionally subject to maladies either 
peculiar to them, or in which the neighboring viscera participate to a 
greater or less extent. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — When slight, dysentery resembles severe 
diarrhoea, and requires the remedies which have been indicated under 
the head of the latter disease. 

After some doses of aconitum, arsenicum is to be given, especially 
when the evacuations are liquid, or of a greenish color. However, 
mercurius vivus is the chief remedy for this disease, more especially 
when it occurs under an epidemic form, a thing which is not unusual 
in spring and at the commencement of summer, when very warm 
days alternate with cold nights. This remedy is specially indicated 
when the gums are pale and spongy, the teeth loose, the saliva from 
the mouth viscid and fetid, when there are frequent efforts to empty 
the bowels, with a discharge of fetid wind, and scanty dejections 
mixed with mucus, which presently assume a greenish gray, or a 
brown tint, or which, accompanied with mucus and blood, pass away 
in a liquid form after great efforts ; the belly is swollen and painful 
to the touch, as also the lumbar region ; the rectum projects outside 
the anus ; it becomes much inflated and extremely sensitive. 

In calves, diarrhoea, accompanied with emaciation and loss of 
appetite, very often puts on the dysenteric character ; the animal 
every moment passes liquid matter of a greenish or yellowish color. 
In such a case, Pulsatilla is a specific. Benefit has also been obtained 
from chamomilla, and, when the evacuations were white, from mer- 
curius vivus. 

COLIC. 

Of this disease there are two varieties. The one is flatulent 
colic, arising from the distension of certain portions of the intestines, 



COLIC. 349 

occasioned by the food contained in them undergoing a process of 
fermentation. The pain which the animal evidently suffers, his moan- 
ings, his striking at his belly with his hind feet, a swelling on the 
right side of the belly, the occasional discharge of gas from the mouth 
and anus, constant restlessness, continual getting up and lying down 
again immediately, and all this accompanied by fever, would induce 
the suspicion that the animal was laboring under flatulent colic. 

There are various reasons, however, why cattle should seldom be 
subject to this complaint. By the maceration which the food under- 
goes in the paunch, and the second mastication to which it is sub- 
jected in rumination, it is prepared for speedy and perfect digestion. 
There is neither time nor disposition in the substances contained in 
the intestinal canal for this process of fermentation to be set up ; and 
if there were, there are no labyrinthine irregularities to detain the 
gas, but it would be readily pressed on by the common peristaltic 
motion of the bowels, and expelled. Spasmodic colic has sometimes 
been mistaken for that which has been occasioned by the distension 
of the bowels ; or, more frequenty, inflammation of the outer coat of 
the intestines has been confounded with flatulent colic. 

This species of colic will generally be relieved by the administration 
of almost any aromatic drink; but the chloride of lime, as in hoove, 
is most to be depended upon. Two drachms of the chloride dissolved 
in a quart of warm water, to which an ounce of the tincture of ginger, 
(or two drachms of the powdered ginger,) and twenty drops of essence 
of peppermint have been added, will form one of the most effectual 
colic drinks that can be administered. The choride unites with the 
extricated hydrogen gas, and causes it, or the greater part of it, to 
disappear ; while the aromatic stimulates the intestine to contract 
upon and force forward and expel any small portion that may remain. 

The beast should be walked about ; exercise alone will sometimes 
cause the gas to be expelled ; but the owner must not adopt the 
dangerous expedient of driving or worrying the beast with dogs, 
otherwise he may produce strangulation, or netting, or rupture of the 
intestines. 

Should the first dose, and gentle exercise for a quarter of an hour, 
not produce relief, a purgative drink should be given, and that of an 
aloetic nature, as more likely to operate speedily. Take of Barbadoes 
aloes four ounces, pimento powdered two ounces, and gum Arabic two 
ounces ; pour on them a quart of boiling water ; stir the mixture 
well, and often ; when it is cold, add half a pint of spirit of wine, and 
bottle the whole for use : shake the bottle well before the requisite 
quantity is poured out. Clysters of warm water, or thin gruel, 
should not be neglected, and with each clyster two ounces of the 
aloetic tincture should be administered. Friction on the belly and 
flanks is occasionally useful, and, in obstinate cases, it will be advisa- 
ble to stimulate the whole of the belly with spirit of turpentine well 



350 CATTLE. 

rubbed in. In very bad cases, but not until other remedies have 
been applied, it will be useful to bleed. Warm mashes, warm gruel, 
and good old hay, should constitute the food of the beast for some 
time afterwards. 

A more prevalent species of colic, is the spasmodic. It is spasm, 
or contraction of a portion or portions of the small intestines, and 
accompanied by more excruciating pain than the former. The ani- 
mal is exceedingly uneasy, lowing, pawing, striking at his belly with 
his hind legs or his horns; continually lying down and getting up, 
becoming very irritable, and sometimes being dangerous to handle. 
It is distinguished from flatulent colic by the smaller quantity of gas 
that is expelled, the comparative absence of tension or enlargement 
of the belly, the more evident spasms relaxing for a little while, and 
then returning with increased violence, and the freedom with which 
the animal moves during the remissions. 

The feeding on acrid plants, or even on healthy food too great in 
quantity or too nutritive, the commencement of feeding on grains, ex- 
posure to cold after work, the drinking of too cold water, and espe- 
cially after exercise, or of water impregnated with metallic salts, are 
occasional causes. More dangerous ones are the long continuance of 
purging, and also the long continuance of costiveness. The treat- 
ment will be the same, except that as this proceeds from irritation in 
the intestinal canal generally, or in particular portions of it, which is 
apt to run on to inflammation, bleeding will be earlier resorted to ; 
and the practitioner will not suffer the first symptom of inflamma- 
tion to appear, without adopting the best method of subduing it. 
After every case of colic, whether flatulent or spasmodic, the animal 
will require some attention and nursing, for in both of them the in- 
testines are considerably weakened and predisposed to a repetition of 
the attack, and there are few maladies, the habit of the recurrence 
of which is so soon formed. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The curative means are aconitum (one 
or two doses), and then arsenicum (three or four doses). If these 
remedies diminish the sufferings a little, but the constipation still 
continues, nux vomica is given, when the faecal evacuations are in 
small hard lumps; opium, when they are blackish, as if burned, and 
when it becomes necessary to extract them from the rectum with the 
hand ; plumbum in the most obstinate cases, where the rectum is 
empty. We may also try carbo vegetabilis and colocynthis. Consult 
the articles Diarrhoea and Distension of the Rumen by Gas, for these 
two symptoms are sometimes associated in colic. 

STRANGULATION OF THE INTESTINES. 

Spasmodic colic, if neglected, or bidding defiance to medical treat- 
ment, occasionally leads to such an entanglement of different parts of 



THE CORDS, OR GUT-TIE. -351 

the bowels with each other, that they become tied into a kind of knot, 
and the passage of food along them is obstructed. When the small 
intestines of cattle are observed hanging loose, as it were, at the end 
of the mesentery, (see fig. 2, p. 330,) it is not to be wondered at, if, 
in the disturbed, increased, hurried, and sometimes inverted peristaltic 
motion which takes place in consequence of colic, one portion of the 
intestine should be entangled among the rest, and the fatal knot 
should be tied. Occasionally a small piece of fatty matter disengages 
itself from the mesentery and hangs floating in the belly, and then, 
either in the changes of situation which the bowels undergo in natu- 
ral exercise, or more particularly in the commotion of colic, it en- 
twines itself round a portion of the intestine, and obstructs the pass- 
age. These twists, and loops, and knots, are sometimes strangely 
intricate. When the dead animal lies before the practitioner, it is 
almost impossible to unravel them. This is the true net or knot, so 
dreaded in some parts of the country. It is the result of those 
colicky pains which have been mistaken for strangulation, and which 
have been increased and hurried on to the production<of this involved 
state by the absurd and brutal measures that have been adopted. 
Strangulation having once taken place, there can be no remedy. All 
that can be done is to attack every case of colic in good earnest, as 
soon as it is perceived, for no one can tell how soon the displacement, 
twist, knot, or whatever it be, will occur in consequence of the per- 
verted action of the intestines, or the violent struggles of the animal, 
caused by the torture which he endures. 

THE CORDS, OR GUT-TIE. 

This is another singular and fatal species of intestinal strangula- 
tion. It is not of unfrequent occurrence in some districts, and espe- 
cially in wet and marshy situations : it is peculiar to the ox, and is 
rarely observed in him after the second or third year. The beast 
shows disinclination to food — rumination is suspended, or performed 
in a listless, interrupted manner — the animal appears to be griped — 
he strikes at his belly with his hind legs — he lies down, and, as he 
gets up again, bows his back in an extraordinary way, and then, all 
at once, stretching out every limb, he gives the spinal column a 
somewhat concave form. Small quantities of faeces are voided, min- 
gled with mucus, and sometimes with blood ; and if the animal is 
examined, by introducing the hand into the rectum, he evidently 
suffers extreme pain. 

The ailment is referable to one side more than the other, and 
generally to the left side. The hind leg on that side is frequently 
advanced and then retracted, and, in some cases, becomes partially 
paralyzed. 

These symptoms are more and more alarming : if the ox can be 



352 CATTLE. 

induced to eat, the griping pains are immediately increased — the 
belly swells — the countenance becomes anxious — the ears, the horns, 
the nose, and the thighs become cold — the pulse is small and accele- 
rated, and scarcely to be felt — the breathing is laborious and heard 
at a distance — the mouth and nostrils are pale. The disease con- 
tinues during six, seven, or eight days : it yields to no medicine — it 
is aggravated by most of the measures adopted — it is especially so if 
the beast is moved about — and at length death terminates the period 
of suffering. 

On examination, strangulation of some part of the intestine is 
found, and generally of the small intestine. It is tied by a distinct 
and evident cord — in some cases it is the spermatic cord, which, 
after castration unskillfully performed, or now and then by mere ac- 
cident, has been retracted into the belly, and has become enlarged, 
and has had tumors forming on it, and particularly at its extremity. 
Oftener it is an adventitious or unnaturally formed membrane, which 
becomes entangled round the intestine, and assumes the appearance 
of a cord. 

The mode of operation, in castrating bullocks, is often very absurd. 
Some practitioners pride themselves on performing it with scarcely 
the loss of any blood. They open the scrotum, and lay bare the 
spermatic cord, and then, by mere dint of pulling and twisting, they 
tear it out. There is, certainly, no bleeding, and the portion that 
remains immediately retracts into the belly ; but the consequence of 
all this violence is that inflammation ensues — tumors, false mem- 
branes are formed, and the foundation is laid for this complaint. 
Others draw the cord out as far as they can without tearing it, and 
then cut it off close to the pelvis. There is no external bleeding in 
this case ; but there is bleeding within the cavity of the belly, and a 
source of irritation is set up by the presence of this blood, and va- 
rious abdominal diseases ensue, and, among the rest, the cords, or 
gut-tie. 

Ji is not, however, to be uniformly traced to this cause alone. It 
seems, especially, to prevail in low and damp situations — it has fol- 
lowed the use of half mouldy and unwholesome fodder — it has 
seemed to be connected with hard work, and that on an irregular or 
steep surface ; and some have imagined that it is most prevalent 
where the floor of the ox stables is too much inclined, on account of 
the great pressure on this part of the abdomen, and especially in the 
act of rising. It can be readily believed that any source of irritation, 
whether of the spermatic cord, or of the intestines lying in the 
neighborhood of it, or of the intestinal canal generally — in fact, that 
any or all of the sources of common colic may be the predisposing 
or immediate causes of this species of strangulation. 

Although it has been stated that no medicine seems to be of 
avail, the patient should not be abandoned. There is an operation, 



THE CORDS, OR GUT-TIE. 353 

apparently difficult and dangerous, but really simple, easy to be per- 
formed, and generally effectual. 

It will be evident that this operation should be performed, the 
side line being used, and the beast remaining standing close to a 
wall, and fastened to it as well as circumstances will permit. The 
incision should be made on the left side, and taking, as the centre of 
it, the spot at which the flank is generally punctured in cases of 
hoove, and where a small portion of the jejunum, and that which is 
the most likely to be entangled, is protruded over the rumen, and 
floats by itself at the extremity of the mesentery. It should be a 
vertical incision, or a little oblique, in a direction from behind for- 
ward. A small opening should first be made, through the integu- 
ment and muscle, avoiding, if possible, the peritoneum. Into this 
the first and second fingers of the left hand should be introduced, 
and thus, by means of a probe-pointed bistoury', guarded and o-uided 
by these fingers, the wound may be enlarged so as to permit the 
introduction of the hand of the operator. There will probably be a 
considerable gush of blood when the external oblique is first divided, 
but that will speedily cease by the retraction of the artery. 

The peritoneum should next be divided, if it has not been so 
already, and the hand of the surgeon, the arm having been bared 
and well oiled, should be introduced into the wound ; the epiploon 
or cawl gently torn ; and the hand passed among the intestines in a 
direction upward and backward, or a little behind the kidnevs. The 
operator will soon feel the strangulated part, and the cord by which 
it is suspended or tied, and usualty attached to some part of the 
pelvis. Having satisfied himself with regard to the situation of the 
cord, he will withdraw his hand, and, taking another shorter and 
more curved and probe-pointed bistoury, and having it in the hollow 
of his hand, and guarding the cutting edge with his finger and 
thumb, he will introduce it into the abdomen, find out the cord again, 
and cautiously divide it. The hand will once more be removed, in 
order to get rid of the bistoury, and then re-introduced to ascertain 
whether the whole of the strangulated part has been liberated, which 
is easily effected by tracing all the neighboring circumvolutions and 
passing them through the hand. 

The operator being satisfied as to the state of the bowels, brings 
the edges of the wound together, and confines them by a sufficient 
number of stitches, including the peritoneum, muscle, and integu- 
ment, in the same stitch. A pledget of tow is placed over the wound, 
and a broad bandage passed tightly several times round the belly, 
which must not be removed during the first six or eight days. 

The majority of cattle thus operated upon are saved, and the 
wound is usually healed in somewhat less than a month. It may, 
however, be supposed that after the extensive opening into the abdo- 
minal cavity, and this laceration of the cawl, and groping and cutting 



354 CATTLE. 

among the intestines, some alarming symptoms will occasionally 
supervene. The belly will swell, and sometimes to a considerable 
extent. Fomentations and, if necessary, scarifications may be resorted 
to. There may be manifest symptoms of fever, as shiverings, heav- 
ing at the flanks, and cessation of rumination. Blood should then 
be abstracted, according to the state of the patient ; half-pound 
doses of Epsom salts should be given morning and night, until the 
bowels are moderately opened, and the beast should have little be- 
sides mashes and gruel, and should be kept as quiet as possible. 

INTROSUSCEPTION OF THE BOWELS. 

This is another fatal consequence of colic. While certain portions 
of the ileum or jejunum generally, but occasionally of the larger 
bowels, are distended by gas, other parts are spasmodically contracted, 
and then, by the increased peristaltic motion which is going on, the 
collapsed part of the superior or anterior intestine slides, or is forced 
down, into the distended part behind ; or, by that inverted action 
which takes place in the intestine commotion of colic, a contracted 
portion of the bowel slides or is forced into the distended part before, 
and thus one intestine is strangely contained within another, and 
that occasionally reaching to a considerable extent. The mesentery 
is usually torn in this unnatural procedure, for otherwise that too 
must be taken up or carried down into the distended intestine above 
or below. 

It will be easily conceived that this will inflict great torture on the 
beast, and an examination after death will sufficiently prove the in- 
tensity of the suffering ; for there will be much inflammation, and 
generally gangrene of the involved part ; and sometimes of both por- 
tions of the intestine. The symptoms by which the practitioner may 
be induced to suspect, or may know, that colic has run On to intro- 
susception, are not yet determined. Increase of pain, attended by 
obstinate constipation, rapid prostration of strength, and compara- 
tively little fever, may be obscure indications. It is evident that this 
case must be beyond the reach of medical skill. 

INVERSION OF THE RECTUM. 

It has occasionally happened in the straining of diarrhoea, and in 
the still more violent efforts with which the faeces are expelled in 
dysentery, that a portion of the rectum is protruded from the anus ; 
the sphincter muscle of the anus then contracts violently upon it, 
and no effort of the animal can draw it back, nor will it readily yield 
to any external force employed. The blood is necessarily congested 
in the protruded intestine, from the situation of the part ; the gut is 
intensely red, and it gradually becomes livid, black, gangrenous. 
The animal all the while is making frequent and violent efforts, during 
which small quantities of excrement, or mucus, or blood, or gas, are 



CONSTIPATION. 355 



extricated ; the protrusion of the gut increases ; irritative fever en- 
sues ; and death speedily follows. 

In order to allay irritation, and in some measure lessen these efforts 
by which more of the intestine is expelled or its return prevented, 
a pint of castor oil with two drachms of opium should be adminis- 
tered, and a quantity of blood, varying with the size and condition 
of the animal, abstracted. The protruded part should be thoroughly 
cleaned, and diligently fomented, during the space of an hour, with 
a decoction of poppy-heads, lukewarm. Gentle, but long-continued 
efforts should then be made to return the intestine, which will be 
accomplished much oftener than would be imagined if the operator 
will have patience "enough. The gut having been returned, cold 
water should be applied around the anus, and for a considerable 
time, in order that the sphincter muscle may more powerfully close, 
and confine the intestine in its proper situation. It may, however, 
again protrude, but it should be immediately returned, and care 
having been taken to allay the irritation of the bowels and of the 
system generally, the straining will gradually cease, and the intestine 
will no longer be forced out. 

If the protrusion continues in despite of every effort, and the part 
begins to swell, and to become black, and fetid, and mortified, and 
the pulse is small, and the mouth hot, and the ears cold, and the 
muzzle dry, and the eyes red, and the appetite and rumination are 
suspended, and the animal is rapidly becoming weak, the practitioner 
must have recourse to a bold and dangerous operation, but which 
will succeed much oftener than it will fail : he must cut off the pro- 
truded intestine close to the anus. There will probably be considera- 
ble haemorrhage, but he must not be alarmed at that ; it will be bene- 
ficial rather than injurious ; it will prevent or abate inflammation, 
and it will cease long before the strength of the patient is exhausted. 
The little portion of intestine half protruded at the anus will gradu- 
ally return ; the sphincter muscle will contract ; union of the divided 
portions of the intestine will take place, and the animal will perfectly 
recover. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — After having reduced the intestine, pre- 
viously oiling it, we should prescribe internally belladonna and mer- 
curius vivus, if symptoms of inflammation be observed. When the 
accident has heen caused by the effects occasioned by constipation, 
this is a case for recurring to murias magnesim, just as argilla is 
suitable when diarrhoea is the cause of the accident. Arsenicum also 
is a very effectual means in the latter case. 

CONSTIPATION. 

The immediate cause of many of these affections of the bowels is 
constipation. The beast is sapped or bound. This constipation is 



356 CATTLE. 

often exceedingly difficult to remove, not, perhaps, from any want of 
power in the intestinal canal to be acted? upon by purgative medi- 
cines, but from the impossibility of getting any considerable propor- 
tion of the purgative into contact with the internal surface of the 
bowels. It has already been observed that in a state of health much 
of the fluid swallowed by cattle enters into the rumen, and is detained 
there for the purpose of macerating the food and preparing it for 
rumination ; and we have proof, and that sufficiently annoying; that 
in some circumstances of disease, all the fluid swallowed goes into 
the rumen, and is lost so far as the purpose for which it was ad- 
ministered is concerned. It has not unfrequently happened that six, 
seven, and eight days have passed, and the bowels have remained in 
a constipated state. This must of necessity aggravate the symptoms 
of many diseases, and lay the foundation for others. 

When the state of the animal indicates the administration of the 
Epsom salts, they should be accompanied by the usual quantity of 
some aromatic, (half an ounce of ginger,) and be given in as gentle a 
way as possible. There can scarcely be a better way than suffering 
it to run from a long narrow-necked bottle introduced into the mouth. 
Should not this operate at the expected time, a second dose should 
be given, and, probably, with the same quantity of the aromatic ; cer- 
tainly so if little fever be present. If this, however, should have no 
effect, it is very probable that from some sympathetic influence ex- 
tending over the whole of the digestive organs, the roof of the rumen 
is open, or the pillars of which that roof is composed are in a relaxed 
state, and yield even to the pressure of a fluid gently poured down 
the gullet. Then the next dose (for the purgative must be continued 
until it does operate, and the nature of that purgative, and the 
knowledge of the manner in which the quantity already given has 
been disposed of, remove all fear of inflammation or superpurgation 
being produced) must have an increased proportion of aromatic, in- 
creased in defiance of existing fever, and increased to the full extent 
to which the practitioner dares to go. Probably, a cordial-drink (an 
ounce of ginger and the same quantity of carraway powder) would be 
given with advantage ; for the rumen might be roused to its natural 
action by the stimulus, and the pillars of its roof might be closed, and 
the next dose might run on through the manyplus into the abomasum. 
The rumen may possibly be roused to act in another way ; a portion 
of the fluid that it contains may be injected into the cesophagean 
canal by a process somewhat resembling that by which the pellet of 
food is thrown there for remastication ; and the muscles of that canal, 
and of the base of the gullet, not being able to grasp it because it is 
a fluid, it will necessarily pass on through the manyplus into the 
fourth stomach and intestines. 

It is by some mechanism of one of these kinds that purging is at 
length established after obstinate cases of constipation ; or, when the 



WORMS. 357 

animal dies and almost all the purgative medicine that has been given 
is found in the rumen, it is because that stomach has not been suffi- 
ciently stimulated. There is something in the structure of cattle 
which renders certain medical rules and principles altogether inap- 
plicable, and which, in defiance of all fever, occasionally compels us 
to mingle strange doses of aromatics and stimulants with the very 
means by which we are endeavoring to subdue inflammation. This is 
a very important consideration in the treatment of disease. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The more or less inflammatory state 
which generally accompanies it, requires that we commence the 
treatment with a dose of aconitum. The most effectual means then 
is nux vomica ; it is indicated chiefly, when the evacuations from the 
bowels are scanty, hard, covered with mucus, and when the animal 
frequently draws up the belly. If there be no thirst, we should 
have recourse to china and bryonia. The latter remedy is also suita- 
ble when the constipation has been produced by cold, a circumstance 
in which it frequently alternates with diarrhoea. Opium and argila 
must be employed when the inactive state of the intestinal tube 
allows nothing to escape from the body, and the animal remains lying 
down, though evincing no pain. In very obstinate constipation, 
where the rectum is empty, and also where only a small quantity of 
matter escapes, which is not very hard, plumbum never fails to be 
effectual. 

CALCULI. 

It has been stated (pp. 299 and 300) that various concretions are 
found in the rumen of cattle. It is the natural situation for them, 
for there the food is longest detained, and there they have time to 
form. A few, but much smaller, calculi are occasionally found in 
the reticulum ; others, composed of thin and friable concentric layers, 
occupy, yet comparatively rarely, the large intestines of cattle ; but 
they also are not of great size, for the food passes too rapidly over 
the smooth surface of these portions of the digestive canal. There 
are no symptoms by which their presence can be recognized, nor is 
there any evidence of their being the cause of disease, although it is 
not improbable that the presence and pressure of these bodies, and 
the irritation produced by them, may in some instances be the cause 
of colic, strangulation, and other serious affections. 



These occasionally are found in the intestines of cattle, but in no 
great quantities ; nor are there any authenticated accounts of their 
being the cause of irritation or disease. The food is so perfectly 
prepared for digestion, and that process is so rapidly accomplished, 
and the nutriment is so completely extracted, that there is little left 
for the support of worms ; nor, if they are received into the intes- 



358 CATTLE. 

tines in the state of ova, or eggs, would they be likely to escape the 
processes of digestion which take place in cattle. 

The Amphistoma conicum, a worm with a mouth, or the appear- 
ance of one, at each end, and often found plentifully in the intestines 
of birds, frequently inhabits the rumen and reticulum of cattle. It 
is here of considerably larger size, and swells into a somewhat coni- 
cal form. 

The Taenia denticulata, the denticulated tape-worm, small in size, 
and the neck becoming fine, and sometimes almost thread-like, is 
found in the fourth stomach and in the small intestines. 

The Lumbricus teres, the common intestinal round worm, lives in 
the small intestines. 

A small species of the Strongylus is a frequent companion of the 
last ; and another small long worm, the Tricocephalus affinis, with 
its minute head attached to its lengthened and thread-like neck, has 
been discovered in the caecum. 

The presence of these worms is rarely taken into account by the 
practitioner, and few means are taken for their expulsion. 

Mention has already been made of the hydatid ( Coenurus cere- 
bralis) inhabiting the brain ; and others ( Cysticerci tenuicolles) 
found in the liver, the lungs, the spleen, and in the peritoneum and 
the pleura ; the Strongylus fllaris, occupying the bronchial tubes of 
cattle, and the Distoma hepaticum, the fluke worm, swimming in the 
biliary ducts. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The chief remedy is china, in multiplied 
doses, and then sulphur ; if there be a dislike for food, antimonium 
crudum should be given. 

DROPSY. 

This is an accumulation of fluid in the cavity of the belly. The 
whole of that cavity is lined with, and every viscus which it contains 
is covered by, a polished glistening membrane, so that the contents of 
the abdomen may glide over and move easily among each other, and 
the injurious effects of friction be as much as possible avoided. In a 
state of health there are certain vessels which continually secrete or 
pour out the fluid that is requisite for this purpose, and which are 
called exhalent vessels ; and there are others that take this fluid up 
and carry it into the circulation when it has discharged its duty, or 
when it is secreted in undue quantities, and which are denominated 
absorbent vessels. Dropsy, then, is the consequence of the pouring 
out of an undue quantity of fluid, and faster than the absorbents can 
carry it away ; or it is the pouring out of the natural quantity while 
the absorbents are paralyzed, or do not do their duty in removing it ; 
and in either way it accumulates in the abdomen. It is easy, there- 
fore, to suppose, that when the lining membrane generally, or a por- 



DROPSY. 359 

tion of it, is inflamed, and a greater quantity of blood than usual is 
determined to that part, the secretion from the exhalent vessels will 
be increased ; and in consequence of this there will be accumulation 
of fluid in the bag of the heart, when that organ, or its investing 
membrane, is inflamed ; dropsy in the chest will be the consequence 
of pleurisy, and dropsy of the abdomen that of inflammation of the 
peritoneal membrane generally, or of any part of it. Chronic inflam- 
mation of the liver or spleen, or of any particular portion of the intes- 
tinal canal, will have the same termination from increased action of 
the exhalents ; a similar effect will occasionally be produced by the 
sudden stopping of any long- continued evacuation, or acute or 
chronic eruption ; and on the other hand, feeding in low, marshy 
situations, the privation of wholesome aliment, and every cause of 
general debility, will produce an accumulation of fluid from loss of 
power in the absorbents. 

Of acute dropsy the practitioner has occasional examples. A 
beast, apparently well on the preceding day, suddenly exhibits 
manifest symptoms of inflammation of the bowels. The disease 
proceeds in defiance of all medical treatment, and in two or three 
days the patient is lost. On examination after death, the traces of 
inflammation of the peritoneum are sufficiently evident ; there is 
deposition of flocculent matter ; there are adhesions, but, most impor- 
tant of all, the belly is filled with clear, or turbid, or bloody fluid, 
and the death of the animal was as much occasioned by the irritation 
produced by the pressure of this fluid, and the labor of breathing 
which it occasioned, as by the previous or still-existing inflammation. 

Of chronic dropsy, or a slower filling of the belly, he has more 
frequent proof. The beast increases slowly in size ; it is an enlarge- 
ment, not of the left side as in hoove, or of the right as in flatulent 
colic, but of the bell) 7 generally, and sometimes almost as slow as in 
the increase of condition. It evidently is not that, for the limbs are 
wasting, or if they occasionally increase in size, it is a puffy oedema- 
tous enlargement, and not the accumulation of flesh and fat. The 
animal at the same time is dull ; disinclined to move ; the skin is 
dry ; the coat is rough ; the thirst is excessive ; there is alternate 
constipation and diarrhoea ; the membranes of the mouth and nose are 
pale, and the conjunctiva is of a feint yellow. By degrees the belly 
drops, and leaves a considerable hollow at the flanks, and by tapping 
on the sides the evident fluctuation of water can be perceived. The 
pressure of the fluid on the diaphragm lessens the cavity of the chest, 
and does not leave sufficient room for the lungs to expand ; labor of 
breathings ensues — it increases ; the animal is not able to stand longf, 
and when he lies down the respiration is so difficult, and the feeling 
of suffocation is so strong, that he scrambles up again as quickly as 
his remaining strength will permit, and at length dies, either of abso- 
lute suffocation or mere debility. 



360 CATTLE. 

The chance of success in the treatment of such a disease must be 
little. The first object is to relieve the sad oppression under which 
the animal labors, and that must be effected by puncturing the belly, 
and suffering the fluid to escape. There is neither art nor danger 
about the operation. The beast should be tied up close, and a side 
line put on ; a puncture should be made with a lancet or trochar 
under the belly, six or eight inches from the udder, and half as much 
from the middle line of the belly, and on the right side — the milk 
vein and the artery which accompanies it being carefully avoided. 
The opening should not be larger than would admit the little finger ; 
and if it be made with the trochar, the tube may be left in the wound 
until the fluid has quite run out. 

The wound being thus small, there is no need for the often fruitless 
care to close it again with adhesive plaster when the purpose for 
which it was made has been effected. There will not only be no 
danger, but manifest advantage, in a small drain of this kind being 
left open ; for the fluid which may continue to be secreted will drib- 
ble away during two or three days, and thus permit the peritoneal 
membrane and the abdominal viscera (freed from the oppression 
around them ) to recover their healthy tone ; whereas, if the wound 
be immediately closed, the fluid of dropsy will begin at once to 
accumulate again, and there will be far less chance of effecting per- 
manent benefit. The quantity of fluid that is sometimes got rid of 
by means of this operation is very great. It is by no means uncom- 
mon for twenty gallons to escape, and there are records of thirty-two 
gallons having been drawn at once. There is little chance of perma- 
nent cure in cases like these, for there must have been great disease 
and disorganization in order to produce effusion to this extent, and 
that disease must have been of long standing, and therefore not easy 
to be removed. In addition to this, all the viscera of the abdomen 
must have been debilitated, and have lost their natural tone and 
function by the continued pressure and maceration. Still a cure is 
worth attempting, for the practitioner has done little by the mere 
temporary relief which the operation has afforded. 

In order to prevent the refilling of the belly, two objects must be 
accomplished, namely, the determination of this fluid to some other 
part where it shal^be regularly discharged, and the restoration of the 
general health of the animal, and, with this, the proper balance 
between the exhalent and absorbent vessels. It is therefore usual to 
give a dose of physic immediately after the operation, that the fluid 
which might otherwise begin again to fill in the belly may be carried 
off by the discharge thus established ; the physic is repeated as fre- 
quently as the strength of the animal will permit. This is a way of 
proceeding, however, not very favorable to the re-establishment of 
health and strength, and therefore much greater reliance is placed 
on a course of diuretic medicine, with which tonics can be com- 



HERNIA, OR RUPTURE. 361 

bined ; purgative medicine being still occasionally given. Half an 
ounce of nitre, with a quarter of an ounce each of tartrate of iron, 
commom liquid turpentine, gentian, and ginger, may be given daily 
with great advantage. Bran and malt mashes will be useful at first, 
and when the beast goes again to grass, care should be taken that 
the pasture is good, but not too luxuriant or rank. In general, some 
weakness and disinclination to food will remain two or three days 
after the operation, attended at first by considerable heaving, and 
apparent distress, for it is a great change from the tumid and over- 
loaded belly to the perfectly free and natural state of its contents, 
and which do not at once accommodate themselves to that change. 

The belly so frequently fills again after the lapse of two or three 
weeks, that it will be prudent to part with a cow that has been drop- 
sical as soon as she can be got into tolerable condition. The exhibi- 
tion of diuretic and tonic medicines will, perhaps, stave off the return 
of the disease until this can be accomplished ; but the organs of 
digestion have been so debilitated, and these exhalent and absorbent 
vessels have been so habituated to an unnatural action, that a perfect 
and permanent restoration to health can seldom be expected. A 
second operation may be attempted if the belly has filled again, but 
the chances of success are then most materially diminished. 

There is scarcely a book on cattle medicine in which, if this disease 
be mentioned at all, there is not strict caution that the beast should 
not have too much water. This is altogether erroneous. The object 
to be accomplished is to restore the animal as nearly as possible to a 
state of health ; and this can never be effected by curtailing the 
proportion of fluid that is necessary for the maceration and digestion 
of the food, and the supply of all the secretions. A state of unna- 
tural thirst and fever would, on the contrary, be induced, which 
would weaken the animal, and dispose it for a recurrence of the 
disease. 

Homceopathic treatment. — The remedies employed in this affect inn, 
and in the order in which they are here enumerated, are dulcamara, 
digitalis, helleborus niger, arsenicum, and china ; to each some days 
should be allowed, in order to expend their action. It is on the 
china principally that reliance should be placed. In one case, where 
all means failed, benefit was derived from lycopodium, whose action 
may be said to be very powerful in internal dropsies. Ascites 
complicated with anasarca has been cured solely by alternate doses 
of china and arsenicum, a mode of proceeding which experience war- 
rants recommending. 

HERNIA, OR RUPTURK. 

A portion of the intestine occasionally protrudes through the walls 
of the abdomen. This may be the consequence of external violence, 
16 



362 CATTLE. 

the beast having been gored by one of its companions. The external 
wound may probably be small, or, in some cases, the .skin may not be 
broken at all, but the internal wall of the belly is injured, and par- 
tially or entirely ruptured. In consequence of this, a tumor soon 
appears, varying in size according to the extent of the injury. It is 
a portion of the intestine that is protruding. The enlargement is 
tender when pressed upon, but it does not seem to interfere with the 
health of the animal, and a fortnight or three weeks elapse before any 
serious consequence is observed ; at length the tumor begins to 
increase ver}' rapidly ; the animal expresses considerable pain on 
being moved, and is only comparatively easy when lying down, and 
even then it moans occasionally ; the breathing is quickened ; the 
countenance is anxious ; the pulse is quick and small ; rumination has 
stopped, and the usual evacuation of faeces is diminished. It is 
plainly a protrusion of the bowels, and now attended with some 
degree of strangulation, or pressure of the edges of the wound upon 
them, and thus obstructing the passage of their contents. The tumor 
is generally soft and yielding, and, on pressure, a gurgling noise is 
heard within it. On inspection of the cut, p. 330, and observation 
of the loose manner in which the small intestines are attached to the 
edge of the mesentery, it will be easy to account for the occasional 
enormous size of the tumor, and the quantity of intestine which is 
protruded. 

It is rarely possible, by any manipulation [taxis), to return the 
bowel ; and if it could be returned, it would immediately escape 
again. It is therefore loss of time to endeavor thus to treat the case. 
It would be worse than loss of time, for considerable inflammation 
may be set up by a long-continued and rough handling of the part. 

The beast must be thrown and held on his back, with the hind 
parts somewhat elevated. An incision must be made through the 
skin, corresponding with the length of the tumor, especial care being 
taken that the protruded intestine, which will be found immediately 
underneath, be not wounded. Then, if there be any strangulation of 
the intestine, which in most cases there will be, the first and second 
fingers of the left hand must be introduced between the bowel and 
the edge of the wound ; a crooked knife (a bistoury) must next be 
passed cautiously between the fingers, and the wound enlarged suffi- 
ciently to enable the protruded mass to be returned. The bowel 
having been thus replaced in its natural cavity, the edges of the 
wound through the walls of the belly must be brought together and 
retained with stitches ; the skin, if necessary, being dissected back a 
little, in order to get at the whole of the wound. Stitches must then 
be passed through the skin, the divided edges of which should be 
brought together in the same manner. In a few cases it will be 
practicable, and always advisable when practicable, to include the 
skin and the muscular wall of the belly in the same stitch. A pled- 



HERNIA, OR RUPTURE. 



get of fine tow must be placed over the incision, and upon that an- 
other pledget, smeared with simple ointment. This must be confined 
by a bandage fire or six inches wider than the wound, and which 
must be passed twice or thrice round the body, firmly sewed, and, if 
possible, not removed for ten days. At the expiration of that period, 
the edges will be found to have adhered along the greater part of the 
incision, the stitches may be withdrawn, and what remains unhealed 
may be treated as a common wound. Should much oedematous 
swelling appear on either side of the bandage, the parts should be 
well fomented with warm water, or, if requisite, lightly scarified. 
The beast should be kept on rather short allowance, the food consist- 
ing chiefly of mashes, with a little hay or green meat ; and a dose or 
two of physic should be given during the progress of the cure. 

If the horn should have broken the skin, as well as lacerated the 
muscular part beneath, and the intestine protrudes, it must be 
cleared from any dirt or extraneous matter about it, then carefully 
returned, and the wound closed and the bandage applied as already 
directed. 

The author has not only seen a considerable portion of bowel pro- 
truding, but the bowel itself torn. Even then he has not despaired, 
for the healing power in these animals is such as the human surgeon 
Avould scarcely deem possible. The rent of the intestine may be 
closed by a stitch or two, with well-founded hope of the edges 
uniting, and the intestinal canal becoming perfect and whole. 

Calves are occasionally dropped with ruptures. They principally 
occur along the middle line of the belly, and not far from the navel. 
It is usually a protrusion of a portion of the omentum or caul ; but 
in a few instances one or two small convolutions of the intestines 
have been involved. The principal danger is, that the rumen, when 
unnaturally distended by food or gas, may press upon and injure the 
portion of caul or intestine immediately within the abdomen, and 
turning over the edge of the opening. Any serious operation with a 
view to the reduction of the rupture would scarcely be advisable, 
but it would be prudent to fatten and dispose of the animal as soon 
as convenient. 

But calves are sometimes born with rupture in the groin. The 
opening through which the testicle afterward descends into the bag 
is lax, and yields to slight pressure, and in the motions of the foetus 
in the womb, a small convolution of the intestine slips down. This 
sometimes continues of nearly its original size for several months ; in 
some cases it is gradually retracted, and disappears ; in others, it 
increases in volume with greater or less rapidity. A remedy is often 
to be found for this as soon as the testicles descend into the bag ; 
and at which time, if the hernia will ever be serious, it begins to 
increase, or to be strangulated — the beast should be castrated. 

After the animal is thrown and properly confined, the protruded 



364 CATTLE. 

intestine should be gently and carefully pushed up through the ring 
or opening, the testicles being somewhat drawn out, in order to ren- 
der this more practicable. Continued and gentle pressure applied 
on the sides of the tumor will more facilitate this than the applica- 
tion of the greatest force. The intestine having been returned, the 
finger of an assistant is placed at the opening, and the operator pro- 
ceeds to cut into the scrotum as quickly as he can, and to denude 
the testicle, to apply the ordinary clamps, and to divide the cord 
below the clamps. The clamps will form a temporary and effect- 
ual support; and by the following day, when it is usual to remove 
the clamps, a degree of inflammation and engorgement of the parts 
will have been set up, that will either obliterate the ring, or so far 
contract it, that it will be impossible for the gut afterwards to de- 
scend. 

There is one circumstance to which the practitioner should most 
carefully attend. The protruded intestine always carries with it a 
portion of peritoneum — it is contained in a bag formed by the in- 
vesting membrane of the bowels. The whole of this bag may not 
have been returned when the intestine is pushed up : the operator 
must ascertain this, and by no means open any part of the peritoneal 
covering that may remain. 

Castration will usually remove this hernia and all its unpleasant or 
dangerous consequences, and the beast will be as valuable for grazing 
and for working as if nothing had occurred. 

In a few cases, however, the hernia will be strangulated. So 
great a portion of intestine, or of fascal matter in that intestine, will 
have descended, that the operator cannot return it through the ab- 
dominal ring. Even the somewhat desperate expedient of intro- 
ducing the hand into the rectum, and endeavoring to find out the 
portion of intestine connected with that which has descended, and 
forcibly retract it, may fail: a different kind of operation must then 
be attempted, and which a skillful veterinarian alone can perform. 

A species of rupture, very difficult to be treated, has occurred to 
cows in an advanced period of pregnancy. An excessive accumula- 
tion of fluid has taken place in the womb, or calf-bed, and the ten- 
dinous expansion of the muscles which support the lower part of the 
belly has given way. The farmer says, that " the rim of the cow's 
belly is ruptured." A portion of the womb escapes through the 
opening, and descends into the groin, or seems to occupy the udder, 
and even the head of a calf has been forced down into the groin. 

There is one more species of rupture to which cattle are subject, 
and the existence of which cannot always be ascertained during life, 
namely, that of the diaphragm, or midriff. In distension of the 
rumen there is always great pressure against the midriff. This is 
increased when severe colicky pains come on, and especially Avhen 
improper means have been resorted to, such as strong stimulating 



HEKJNJA, Oil KUPTURE. 



drinks, or rude exercise, or when the animal, in a state of half-uncon- 
sciousness, has violently beaten himself about. The midriff has then 
given way, and a portion of the intestine, or of one of the stomachs, 
or of the omentum or caul, or of the liver, has been forced into the 
cavity of the chest. This may be suspected when, after the usual 
symptoms of hoove or colic, great difficulty of breathing suddenly 
comes on, and is evidently attended by excessive pain — when the 
animal is every moment looking at her side, and especially at the 
left side — when she shrinks, and bows herself up as if the muscles 
of the belly were violently cramped — and when she stiffens all over, 
and then suddely falls and dies in convulsions. 

Examination after death has sometimes displayed chronic mpture 
of this kind. The attack has been as sudden, but the colicky pains 
have not been so violent ; they have intermitted — disappeared ; but 
an habitual difficulty of breathing has been left behind — disinclina- 
tion to rapid motion — fright when suddenly moved — anxiety of 
countenance — perhaps impairment of condition — and certainly im- 
possibility of acquiring any considerable degree of condition. This 
has continued during several months, until the animal has been de- 
stroyed, or has died from some cause unconnected with these symp- 
toms ; and then an old rupture of the diaphragm has been discov- 
ered, the edges of which had been completely healed, and the second 
stomach, or the liver, had been firmly placed against the opening, 
and had occupied it, and in a slight degree projected into the thorax. 
No medical treatment or operation could be of the slightest service 
in this case. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — In connection with the surgical means, 
arnica is to be administered very often, externally and internally. 
The animal must be kept quiet, and all flatulent food carefully 
avoided. If inflammation take place, aconitum should be given 
repeatedly. Sulphuric acid, diluted, may be used externally. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE URINARY ORGANS AND THEIR DISEASES. 

THE KIDNEYS. 

• 

The blood contains much watery fluid, which, after it has answered 
certain purposes connected with digestion, or the various secretions, 
is separated and carried out of the frame. The kidneys are the 
main instruments by which this is effected ; and they are often called 
into increased action in order to compensate for the deficiencies of 
other parts. When the usual discharge of perspiration from the 
skin is suspended, the kidney takes on increased activity ; and when 
fluids are accumulating in the frame generally, or in particular parts, 
they escape by means of these organs. Also other substances, the 
accumulation or the continuance of which in the frame would be 
injurious, are got rid of by means of the kidneys. The essential 
principle of the urine (the urea) is one that would be noxious, or 
perhaps destructive. 

The kidneys are two glandular substances, attached on either 
side to the spine beneath the muscles of the loins. They are not, 
however, exactly opposite to each other, but the left kidney is pushed 
somewhat backward by the great development of the rumen. A 
very large artery runs to each. The quantity of blood which that 
vessel carries shows the importance of the kidneys, and well accounts 
for the inflammation and other diseases to which they are occasion- 
ally subject. These arteries divide into innumerable little branches, 
coiled upon and communicating with each other in a singular manner ; 
and the blood, traversing all these convolutions, has its watery and 
noxious ingredients separated in the form of urine, which is carried 
on to the bladder, while the portion that remains is returned to the 
circulation by means of the veins, which bear a proportionate size to 
that of the arteries. 

As the process of digestion is so perfectly performed in cattle, 
and all the nutritive, and some, perhaps, of the noxious matter which 
the food contains, taken up and received into the circulation, the 
kidneys have much to do in order to complete this process of separa- 
tion ; they are therefore large ; are complicated in their appearance ; 
they present an assemblage of different lobes or lobules, separated 
by deep scissures ; there are ample provisions made for their secu- 



RED-WATER. 367 



rity — they are deeply embedded in a covering of fat, and there is 
another accumulation of fat surrounding and defending the differ- 
ent vessels that are received or given off. The bulk of the 
rumen, and the danger of occasional pressure from it, may in some 
degree account for these provisions of safety ; but a more satisfac- 
tory reason is to be found in the greater extent and importance of 
the function which these organs in cattle have to discharge. 

RED-WATER. 

The disease termed red-water, from the color of the urine, is one 
of the most frequent and untractable maladies of cattle. It may be 
conveniently divided into acute and chronic ; in fact, two diseases 
essentially different in their symptoms, demanding different treat- 
ment, and referable to different organs, have been confounded under 
this name. 

A cow, in somewhat too high condition, and in whom the prudent 
precautions of bleeding or physicking had been omitted, frequently, 
a week or two before the time of calving, suddenly exhibits symp- 
toms of fever ; she heaves at the flank ; she ceases to ruminate, and 
evidently suffers much pain ; her back is bowed ; she is straining in 
order to evacuate her urine, and that is small in quantity, expelled 
with force, highly tinged with blood. 

At other times, a few days after calving, when she had not 
cleansed well, or was in too good condition, and had not had that 
dose of purgative medicine which should always follow parturition, 
she suddenly manifests the same symptoms of illness, speedily suc- 
ceeded by a similar discharge of bloody urine. 

The nature and cause of the disease are here evident enough. 
During the period of pregnancy there had been considerable deter- 
mination of blood to the womb. A degree of susceptibilitv, a ten- 
dency to inflammatory action, had been set up ; and this had been 
increased as the period of parturition had approached, and was ag- 
gravated by the state and general fulness of blood to which she had 
incautiously been raised. The neighboring organs necessarily par- 
ticipated in this, and the kidneys, to which so much blood is sent for 
the proper discharge of their function, either quickly shared in the 
inflammation of the womb, or first took on inflammation, and suffered 
most by means of it. 

An overdriven bullock is seized with acute inflammation of the 
kidneys ; another that has been shifted from poor to luxuriant pas- 
ture is soon observed to have red-water. There are some seasons 
when it is in a manner epidemic, when a great proportion of the 
beasts in a certain district are attacked by it, and many of them die. 
Atmospheric influence has not been taken sufficiently into the ac- 
count in the consideration of this and almost every other disease. It 
is seldom that one dairy is attacked by red-water, without many or 



368 CATTLE. 

most of the neighboring ones being annoyed by it, and especially if 
the soil and the productions of the soil are similar; -and even cattle 
in the straw-yard have not then quite escaped. It is more prevalent 
in the spring and autumn than in the winter, and more in the winter 
than in the summer : it is particularly prevalent when, in either the 
spring or the fall of the year, warm days succeed to cold nights and 
a heavy dew. It is peculiar to certain pastures : the farmer scarcely 
dares to turn even the cattle of the country upon some of them ; and 
a beast brought from a distant farm or market is sure to be attacked. 
It oftenest occurs in woody districts, and particularly in low marshy 
lands ; but in them there are exceptions, which, in the present state 
of the botanical knowledge of the farmer and the veterinarian, cannot 
be satisfactorily accounted for. A wall or a hedge may divide a 
perfectly safe pasture from another which gives the red- water to 
every beast that is turned upon it. One farmer scarcely knows what 
the disease is except by name, while on the grounds of his neighbor 
it destroys many a beast every year. The same pasture is safe at 
one time of the year and dangerous and destructive at another. The 
fields surrounded by copses may be stocked with impunity, or advan- 
tage, in summer or winter ; but the farmer must beware of them 
when the buds are shooting or the leaves are falling. 

The result of general experience is, that it has more to do with 
the nature of the food than with any other cause ; and the produc- 
tion or the unusual growth of the astringent and acrimonious plants 
may have considerable influence here. The malady may with more 
probability be traced to the quality of the general produce of the soil, 
than to the prevalence of certain plants of known acrimonious or 
poisonous properties. 

This noxious quality may be communicated by excess or depriva- 
tion of moisture. There is no farmer who is not aware of the injuri- 
ous effect of the coarse rank herbage of low, and marshy, and woody 
countries, and he regards such districts as the chosen residence of 
red-water. 

The farmer must carefully observe the effect of the different parts 
of his farm in the production of this disease ; and observation and 
thought may suggest to him that alteration of draining or manuring, 
or other management, which may to a considerable degree remedy 
the evil. 

Acute Red-water is ushered in by a discharge of bloody urine, 
and is generally preceded by dysentery, suddenly changing to obstinate 
costiveness ; and as soon as the costiveness is established the red-water 
appears. There is laborious breathing, coldness of the extremities, 
ears and horns, heat of the mouth, tenderness of the loins, and every 
indication of fever : it often runs its course with fearful rapidity, and 
the animal is sometimes destroyed in a very few days. 

When the carcass is examined, there is generally found some in- 



RED-WATER. 



flammation of the kidney, enlargement of it, turgescence of its vessels, 
yet very rarely any considerable disorganization, and certainly not 
so much affection of it as would be expected ; but in cows the uterus 
exhibits much greater inflammation ; there is often ulceration, the 
formation of fetid pus, and occasionally gangrene ; there is also 
peritoneal inflammation, extensive, intense, with adhesions and effu- 
sions, while the lining membrane of the bowels rarely escapes in- 
flammation and ulceration. 

There can be little doubt about the treatment of such a disease. 
There has either been an undue quantity of blood determined to the 
kidneys, with much local inflammation, and before the pressure of 
which the vessels of that organ have given way, or so much blood 
has been always traversing the kidney, that there is a facility in set- 
ting up imflammation there. Bleeding will be the first step indica- 
ted. The first bleeding should be a copious one ; but the repetition 
of it will depend upon circumstances. The haemorrhage, or bleed- 
ing, is clearly active. It is produced by some irritation of the part : 
its color shows that it proceeds from the minute arterial or capillary 
vessels. When bloody urine flows from the kidney, that organ is 
giving way under an increased discharge of its natural function, and 
that function is increased in order to compensate for the suspended 
one of another part, namely, the natural action of the bowels. Three 
objects will be accomplished by venesection : the first, a diminution 
of the general quantity of blood ; the second — a consequence of the 
first — the removal of congestion in the part ; and the third is the 
giving a different direction to the current of blood. 

Purgatives should follow, with a view more quickly and effectually 
to accomplish all these objects ; and from the recollection of a cir- 
cumstance most important to the practitioner, that red-water closely 
followed the establishment of constipation. A pound of Epsom salts 
should be immediately exhibited, and half-pound doses every eight 
hours afterwards, until the bowels are thoroughly acted upon. 

There is too frequently great difficulty in purging cattle when 
laboring under red-water : dose after dose may be administered for 
three or four days, and yet the bowels will remain obstinately con- 
stipated. Either there is a strange indisposition in them to be acted 
upon, or, the rumen sympathizing with the derangement of other 
organs, the muscular pillars of its roof yield to the weight of the fluid, 
whether hastily or cautiously administered, and the medicine enters 
that stomach, and is retained there until the beast is lost. The 
physic must be repeated again and again ; it must gently trickle 
down the gullet, so that it shall fall on the roof of the paunch with 
as little force as possible ; and after the second day, in spite of the 
fever, unusual doses of aromatics must mingle with it, that the rumen, 
or the intestines, or both, may be stimulated to action. In the ma- 
jority of cases, and especiallv before the strength of the animal be- 
16* 



370 CATTLE. 

comes exhausted, the commencement of purging will be the signal of 
recovery. 

It, nevertheless, too often happens, that the constipated state of 
the bowels cannot be overcome, but the animal becomes rapidly 
weaker, while the blood assumes a darker, and sometimes a purple 
or even a black color. The danger is now increased, and probably 
death is not far distant. In many cases, however, the beast not be- 
ing too much exhausted, the dark and coffee- colored urine is a favor- 
able symptom, especially if it be discharged in evidently larger quan- 
tities, and not so frequently. 

The appearance of the darker fluid, and even the continuance of 
the florid red urine, when the fever has subsided to a considerable 
degree, will indicate a different mode of treatment. The haemorrhage 
will have become passive. The blood will flow because the vessels 
have lost their power of contracting on their contents. It has then 
been usual to give astringents ; but this is dangerous practice, for 
the constipation, which is the worst symptom of the disease, and which 
immediately preceded the red-water, and was, probably, the exciting 
cause of it, may be confirmed or recalled. Stimulants, and those 
which act upon the kidney, will be most likeby to have beneficial 
effect. The common turpentine, the balsam of copaiba, or even 
spirits of turpentine, especially if it be guarded by the addition of a 
few drachms of laudanum, may be given with advantage. The 
weakened vessels of the kidney may occasionally be roused to close 
on their contents, and the haemorrhage may be arrested. 

Chronic red-water is more prevalent than that which is acute, and, 
in its first stage, is far more a disease of the digestive organs, and 
especially of the liver, than of the kidney. The urine is observed to 
be of a brown color, or brown tinged with yellow — the beast feeds 
nearly as well as before, but ruminates rather more lazily. In a few 
days a natural diarrhoea comes on, and the animal is well at once ; 
or a purgative drink is administered, and a cure is presently effected. 
This occurs frequently in cows of weak constitution, and in calves. 

At other times there is manifest indisposition ; the animal is dull, 
heavy, languid — the ears droop — the back is bowed — she separates 
from the herd — she refuses her food — she ceases to ruminate. 
Presently she gets better — she rejoins her companions ; but this is 
only for a little while. The urine, which at first was brown, with a 
tinge of yellow, has now red mingling with the brown, or it is of the 
color of porter. It is increased in quantity — it is discharged some- 
times with ease, at other times with considerable straining — in little 
jets, and with additional bowing of the back. The milk diminishes 
— it acquires a slight tinge of yellow or brown — the taste becomes 
unpleasant — it spoils all that it is mingled with. The pulse is ac- 
celerated — it reaches to 60 or 70. If blood be drawn, the serum 
which separates from it is brown. The skin is yellow, but of a 



RED-WATER. 871 



darker yellow than in jaundice — it has a tinge of brown. The con- 
junct^ is also yellow, inclining to brown. The urine becomes of a 
darker hue — it is almost black. The animal usually shrinks when 
the loins are pressed upon ; occasionally there is much tenderness, 
but oftener the beast scarcely shrinks more than he is accustomed to 
do when laboring under almost every disease. The belly is not so 
much tucked up as drawn together at the sides. There is consider- 
able loss of condition — the legs and ears get cold — the animal is 
less inclined to move ; there is evident and general debility. In 
every stage there is costiveness, and that exceedingly difficult to 
overcome ; but, on close inquiry, it is ascertained that there was 
diarrhoea at the beginning, and which was violent and fetid, and which 
suddenly stopped. 

Examination after death shows the skin and the cellular mem- 
brane underneath to be of a dark yellow ; the fat about the belly is 
of the same hue, or- perhaps of a lighter tinge. The first and 
second stomachs are full : there is no fermentation and little gas, or 
sour smell. The manyplus is perfectly dry — baking could hardly 
add to the hardness. The leaves of the manyplus cling to the food 
contained between them : the papilla? leave their evident indenta- 
tions on the hardened mass, and that mass cannot be detached 
without considerable portions of the cuticle clinging to it. The 
fourth stomach is empty, and the lining membrane covered with 
brown mucus, exhibiting patches of inflammation underneath. The 
intestines are rarely inflamed. There is no fluid in the belly, nor in- 
flammation of its lining membrane. The kidney is of a yellow- 
brown color, and sometimes a little enlarged, but there is rarely in- 
flammation or disease about it. Drops of dark and brown-colored 
urine may be pressed from it. The lungs display no mark of dan- 
gerous disease, but they too have a yellow hue. The fluid in the 
bag of the heart is yellow. The chyle, which is traversing the 
lacteal vessels, is yellow too, and there is the same discoloration of 
the fluids everywhere. 

The liver is evidently of a darker color ; it is enlarged, generally 
inflamed, sometimes rotten, and filled with black blood. The gall-blad- 
der is full, almost to distension. The bile is thick and black: it 
looks more like lampblack mixed with oil, than like healthy bile. 

All these appearances lead to the necessary conclusion that this 
is far more a disease of the digestive organs than of the kidney ; in 
fact, that it is not primarily an affection of the kidney. It is dis- 
ease of the liver, either consisting in inflammation of that organ, 
accompanied by increased secretion of bile, or a change in the qual- 
ity of the bile. In consequence of this, the whole circulatory fluid 
becomes tinged with the color of the bile, and which is shown in the 
hue of the skin generally, and in the color of the blood, and par- 



372 CATTLE. 

ticularly in the change that takes place in that blood when drawn 
from the vein. m 

The fluid discharged from the kidneys participates in the general 
change ; it becomes yellow — yellow-brown — brown. The change 
is most evident here, because so great a quantity of blood, in pro- 
portion to the size of the organ, circulates through the kidneys ; and 
more particularly it is evident here, because it is the office or duty 
of the kidneys to separate from the blood, and to expel from the 
circulation, that which is foreign to the blood, or would be injurious 
to the animal. 

The bile, however, possesses an acrid principle to a considerable 
degree. While it is an excrementitious substance that must be got 
rid of, it stimulates the intestinal canal as it passes along in order to 
be discharged ; it particularly does so when it is secreted in undue 
quantities, or when its qualit} r is altered. There is abundant proof of 
this in the bilious irritation and diarrhoea which cattle so frequently 
exhibit. The kidney, at length, is evidently irritated by the con- 
tinued presence of this diseased fluid : it becomes inflamed, its mi- 
nute vessels are ruptured, and a red hue begins to mingle with the 
brown. There is found discoloration and increased size of the kid- 
ney, and pain in the region of that organ ; this, however, is rarely 
carried to any considerable extent, and the seat and principal ravages 
of disease are to be clearly traced to a different part, namely, the liver. 

It is evident, then, that acute and chronic red-water, as the author 
of this treatise has termed them, (for he did not, in the present state 
of our knowledge of cattle medicine, dare to deviate too far from the 
usual arrangement and designation of disease,) are essentially differ- 
ent maladies : they belong to different organs — they are character- 
ized by different symptoms — they require different treatment. The 
first is inflammation of the kidney ; it is characterized by the evident 
pain and fever, and by the red and bloody urine which accompanies 
it in an early stage ; it requires the most active treatment, and it 
speedily runs its course. The second is inflammation of, or altered 
secretion from, the liver ; not often accompanied in its early stage 
by pain or fever ; characterized by the dark brown color of vitiated 
bile, and more slowly, but as fatally, undermining the strength of 
the constitution. 

As to the first step in the treatment of chronic red water, the 
propriety of bleeding depends on the condition of the beast, and the 
degree of fever. An animal in high or in fair condition can never 
be hurt by one bleeding ; while, on the contrary, lurking, decep- 
tive, fatal febrile action may be subdued. If there be the slightest 
degree of actual fever, nothing can excuse the neglect of bleeding. 
The quantity taken, or the repetition of the abstraction of blood, 
must be left to the judgment of the practitioner. 



BLACK-WATER. 373 



The animal must be well purged if he is in a constipated state ; 
or if there is already a discharge of glairy faecal matter, the char- 
acter of that must be changed by a purgative. That is the best 
whose effects are most speedily and certainly produced, and there 
is no drug more to be depended upon in both these respects than 
the Epsom salts. It may be alternated with Glauber's salts, or 
common salt, or an aperient of a different character, sulphur, may 
be added to it. Much good effect is often produced by this mix- 
ture of aperients. As there is either so much real costiveness — in- 
disposition to be acted upon by purgative medicine — or so much 
relaxation of the floor of the cesophagean canal that the medicine 
falls into the rumen instead of going to its proper destination, and 
as the establishment of purgation seems to have so uniform and ben- 
eficial an effect in relieving the disease, the medicine that is adopted 
should be given in a full dose. It should consist of at least a 
pound of Epsom salts, and half a pound of sulphur, and this should 
be repeated in doses consisting of half the quantity of each, until 
the constipation is decidedly overcome. Stimulants would be dan- 
gerous, and astringent medicine would be actual poison in the dis- 
ease. 

It will not be forgotten that the precautions already recommended 
shoidd be carefully observed, in order to give the physic the best 
chance of passing into the bowels ; that the patent pump should be 
in frequent requisition for the administration of clysters ; and that 
when purging is once induced, a lax state of the bowels should be 
kept up by means of the frequent repetition of smaller doses of the 
medicine. The diet should consist principally of mashes, gruel, lin- 
seed tea, fresh cut young grass, young and fresh vetches, and carrots. 
The conclusion of the treatment will be to administer the Epsom 
salts in doses of four or six ounces, as an alterative, for a few days 
afterward ; to which, if there exist any debility, add two drachms of 
gentian and one drachm of ginger. 

BLACK-WATER. 

This is only another and the concluding stage of Red-water. 
When it follows the acute or inflammatory disease, it may be con- 
sidered as a favorable symptom if the urine contains no prurient mat- 
ter, and has no unpleasant smell. It shows that the blood is not 
discharged so rapidly and forcibly as it was ; and that it hangs about 
the mouths of the vessels, or is contained in the cavity of the kidney, 
or in the bladder, sufficiently long to be changed from arterial to 
venous blood, and the practitioner will be encouraged to proceed in 
the course which he had adopted : but if purulent matter mingles 
with the black blood, it indicates the sad extent of the mischief that 
has been done. It is a proof of ulceration, if not of gangrene, and 



374 CATTLE. 

shows that a degree of disorganization has taken place which must 
speedily terminate in death. 

If, in chronic red- water, or that which depends on disease of the 
liver, the discharge becomes of a darker and still darker brown, until 
it has assumed an almost black character, it shows either that the 
system is loaded with a superabundance of this empoisoned secre- 
tion, and of which it cannot rid itself, or that the irritation caused by 
the continued presence of so acrimonious a fluid is producing inflam- 
mation, gangrene, and death, in the vessels that are filled and op- 
pressed by it. In the last stage of the disease, when the urine 
assumes a darker brown or black color, no remedy seems to have 
any efficacy ; the animal is sunk beyond recovery, and he stretches 
himself out and dies, as if perfectly exhausted. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The principal remedy for this affection 
is ipecacuanha, of which a single dose will often suffice to remove it, 
when it is administered in time. When signs of inflammation already 
exist, we must commence with aconitum, which in many cases effects 
a cure by itself. The efficacy of cantharides has been proved many 
times by giving one or two doses each day. If the staling of blood 
be connected with external violence, for instance, with a blow on the 
loins, arnica is the remedy. When it depends on vesical calculus, 
uva ursi should be employed. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS. 

Cattle are occasionally subject to inflammation of the kidneys, bear- 
ing considerable resemblance to acute red-water, but attended by 
more of the symptoms of pure inflammation of that organ in other 
animals. At first there are seldom any indications of disease beyond 
a straining effort in voiding the urine, and which is ejected forcibly 
and in small quantities, the loins being more than usually tender, and, 
perhaps, a little hot. In a day or two afterward, however, the beast 
becomes dull, and careless about his food ; the difficulty of staling 
increases ; blood is perceived to mingle with the urine ; the muzzle 
become dry ; the horns and ears cold ; the pulse frequent and hard, 
and the breathing quickened. Diarrhoea or dysentery is now ob- 
served ; the evacuations are fetid ; they too are discharged with 
effort and in diminished quantities, and at length cease to appear. 

The difficulty of passing the urine becomes rapidly greater ; the 
beast strangely bows his back, and groans from intensity of pain ; at 
length total suppression of urine ensues ; cold sweats break out, 
principally about the back, sides, and shoulders, and the patient 
trembles all over ; he moans continually, but the moaning gets lower 
and lower ; he becomes paralyzed behind ; the pulse can scarcely be 
felt ; the animal falls ; he is incapable of rising, and he dies in three 
or four days after the apparent commencement of the attack. 

This is especially a disease of the spring time of the year. It is 



THE KIDNEYS AND BLADDER. 375 

the consequence of over-nourishment : there is a predisposition to 
inflammation ; and from some cause, more or less apparent, that in- 
flammation is directed to the kidney. The treatment will comprise 
plentiful bleeding, active purging, the administration of emollient 
clysters, fomentation over the loins or the application of a mustard 
poultice to them, bran mashes, gruel, and a small quantity of green 
succulent food. There is a connection between all these affections of 
the kidneys, and inflammation of the larger intestines lying in the 
neighborhood of them ; thence the previous dysentery, and the often 
obstinate constipation of red-water and pure inflammation of these 
organs ; and thence the necessity of large and repeated doses of 
purgative medicine, but from which all stimulating ingredients should 
be excluded, and which would probably, in these cases, best consist 
of castor or linseed oil. The clysters also should be truly emollient, 
that while they assist in opening the bowels, they may act as sooth- 
ing fomentations in the neighborhood of the inflamed organ. Both 
the oil and the clysters should be continued until the inflammation 
has perfectly subsided. To the use of these the treatment should 
generally be confined — most certainly in no part of it should the 
slightest portion of diuretic medicine be administered. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — In general this disease is cured by means 
of aconitum, after which one or two doses of cantharides should be 
given. In obstinate cases, when the disease does not yield to several 
doses of the latter remedy, of which however more than one must 
not be taken during the day, we have recourse to hyoscyamus. Ni- 
trum is also very useful. When there is obstinate constipation, nux 
vomica should be given. Arnica is indicated whenever the disease is 
attributable to an external injury. 

THE KIDNEYS AND BLADDER. 

The urine secreted, or separated by the kidney, having first accu- 
mulated in the cavity in the centre of that organ, is conveyed through 
a duct called the ureter to a more capacious reservoir, the bladder. 
The ureters are large ; the internal membrane is strong ; the open- 
ing into the bladder is near to the neck of that vessel, and the ureters 
terminate near to each other. 

The Bladder of the ox, larger, longer, and of a more oval form 
than that of the cow, is lodged between the rectum and the internal 
surface of the lower bones of the pelvis. It is supported by a trans- 
verse ligament, which ties it to the sides of the pelvis ; while it is at- 
tached by cellular membrane to the rectum above and to the pelvis 
below. It is confined entirely to the cavity of the pelvis, for one of 
the compartments of the paunch affords an insuperable obstacle to 
its entering the proper cavity of the abdomen. When distended by 
urine, its increase of size is principally shown by its greater round- 
ness, and not by its increased length and descent into the cavity of 



376 CATTLE. 

the belly. In examination and in operation for stone in the bladder, 
this should not be lost sight of. It has three coats : the outer and 
peritoneal ; the central or muscular, and the inner coat, which is 
lined with numerous glands, that secrete a mucous fluid in order to 
defend the bladder from the acrimony of the urine. 

The bladder terminates in a small neck, aronnd which is a continua- 
tion of the common muscular coat, or, in the opinion of some, a dis- 
tinct circular muscle, the sphincter, whose natural state is that of 
contraction ; so that the passage remains closed, and the urine re- 
tained, until, the bladder being stretched to a certain extent, the 
fluid is expelled either by the will of the animal, or the involuntary 
contraction of the muscular coat. This muscle is weak in the ox. 
Advantage may be taken of this weakness of the sphincter muscle, 
for in retention of urine, or when, for the purpose of some operation, 
it may be expedient to empty the bladder, the slightest pressure 
upon it by the hand introduced into the rectum will readily effect it. 

Having passed the sphincter muscle, the urine flows through the 
urethra and is evacuated. This canal is long and small ; it pursues 
a tortuous path. The peculiar form and direction of some of the 
muscles of that region compel the penis to take a kind of double 
curve, not unlike an S, before it takes its ultimate straight course ; 
and on these accounts the ox suffers occasionally from the entangle- 
ment of calculi in the folds of the urethra. 

The bladder of the cow is smaller and rounder than that of the 
ox. The rumen is as large as in the ox, and occupies the greater 
part of the abdomen ; but additional room must be left for the im- 
pregnated uterus, and that is effected in some measure at the expense 
of the bladder; while also, to obviate the ill effects of occasional 
pressure in the distended state of the uterus, the sphincter muscle at 
the neck of the bladder of the cow is much larger and stronger than 
the same muscle in the ox. 

The circumstances of disease to be considered with reference to 
the bladder are the foreign bodies, principally calculi, which it may 
contain ; the inflammation resulting from that or from other causes ; 
rupture, and inversion of it. 

URINARY CALCULI. 

Concretions are found in the urinary passages of cattle. One 
cause of their retention may be the form of the passages. Many 
calculi are retained in the bladder, and thus become the centre 
around which other matter collects, layer upon layer. It it probably 
on this account that calculi are found so much oftener in the ox than 
the cow ; in the former the urethra is long: and small, in the latter it 
is short and capacious. 

The great function discharged by the kidney in cattle may like- 
wise account for the more frequent formation of calculi. When so 



STOiNE IN THE KIDNEYS AND THE URETERS. 377 

much more blood passes through this organ, that the useless or 
excrementitious parts of it may be expelled, the supposition is rea- 
sonable that a greater portion of the substances of which urinary 
calculi are composed will be found. The food of cattle may have 
much to do with it ; and the greater proportion of earthy matter 
which they swallow, in the first rude cropping of the herbage, and 
the carelessness with which they often tear it up by the root, or the 
earth which they sometimes voluntarily take to prevent the develop- 
ment of acidity in the stomach, or to remove it. 

The urinary calculi that have been examined have been found to 
be compose'd of nearly the same materials, and in proportions not 
often varying. They have chiefly yielded carbonate of lime, a small 
quantity of carbonate of magnesia, some traces of phosphate of lime, 
and a certain quantity of mucus, which has served as cement between 
the different layers. The form of the calculus has considerably dif- 
fered. When there has been but one central nucleus, the form has 
been more or less circular; but in a majority, the stone has acquired 
magnitude by the union of various small distinct calculi. The form 
of the mass has consequently been different in different specimens. 

The floor of the cow-house, and sometimes bare places in the field, 
will show where a considerable quantity of gritty matter has been 
discharged. This indicates a diseased state of the urine at the time, 
not perhaps sufficiently serious to interfere materially with the general 
health, but which may eventually lead to the formation of stone in 
the bladder or kidney, or to other serious maladies. The sandy 
matter is either white, approaching to gray or yellow ; or it is brown, 
with varying shades of red or yellow. 

Chemists have now satisfactorily ascertained the nature and causes 
of these discharges, and the means of remedying them. The light- 
colored granules show deficiency, and the dark-colored prove excess, 
of acid in the urine. In the one there is a deposite of earthy matter 
from deficiency of acid, and in the other there is a crystallization of 
the acid itself. In the one, cream of tartar, or dilute sulphuric acid 
might be administered with advantage ; and in the other, earth, or a 
portion of chalk mixed with common loam, may be placed before the 
beast, or doses of carbonate of soda may be given. Danger is most 
to be apprehended from the white deposit, which is frequently the 
precursor or the accompaniment of gravel — a deposition in the blad- 
der to which cattle are far more subject than farmers or agriculturists 
are usually aware. 

STONE IN THE KIDNEYS AND THE URETERS. 

There can be no doubt that many calculi descend from the cavity 
or pelvis of the kindey through the ureters into the bladder ; yet 
there is but one case of each on record. 



378 CATTLE. 

STONE IN THE BLADDER. 

It is with the calculus that has descended into the bladder and 
there increased in size, or that was originally formed there, that the 
practitioner will have most to do, either while it continues in the 
bladder, or in its after progress through the urethra. 

The symptoms that would indicate stone in the bladder are some- 
what obscure. There are many that prove plainly enough a state of 
suffering, and of general excitation or fever ; — rumination ceases — the 
mouth is hot — the flanks heave — the animal is continually lying down 
and getting up again — it is looking mournfully towards its flank. 
Then comes a peculiar trembling of the hind limbs, and the frequent 
straining to void urine— a straining at some times quite ineffectual, 
at other times producing the discharge of a small quantity, and that 
occasionally mingled with blood. These symptoms will direct the 
attention of the practitioner to the urinary organs. In order to 
ascertain the nature of the complaint, he will introduce his hand into 
the rectum. The bladder will easily be detected. It will probably 
be distended by urine ; he will gently press upon it, and the con- 
tained fluid will be expelled, and if there is a calculus in the bladder, 
it will be readily felt. He must not, however, be alarmed if this 
pressure should at first produce violent pain resembling colic — he 
must desist for a few minutes, and try again. A sound could not be 
used for the purpose of detecting the calculus, nor even the flexible 
catheter. 

There are two courses to be pursued in such a case — either to 
slaughter the animal immediately, if it be should be in tolerable con- 
dition, or to remove the stone by the usual operation of lithotomy. 
All attempts to dissolve the calculus by the use of muriatic or any 
other acid will be as fruitless as they have proved to be in the human 
being ; and the length and small caliber of the urethra, as well as its 
double curve, prevent the possibility of having recourse to the safe 
and effectual operation of breaking down the stone within the bladder. 
In the ox, on account of the length of the penis, or for other 
reasons, two muscles descend from the anus, and pursue their course 
until they arrive at about the middle of the penis, a little in front of the 
scrotum ; there they attach themselves to the penis, and draw it up, 
and force it to bend or curve upon itself ; and it takes, as has already 
been stated, the form of an inverted S. No stilett can be forced 
through such a double curvature. The operator must either cut down 
on the urethra, without any stilett within to guide him, at the point 
where again, below the anus, it curves round the pelvic bones in order 
to enter the pelvic cavity, and which, if he is a tolerable anatomist, and 
proceeds with some caution, he may readily accomplish ; or he must get 
rid of the first curve, and that may be effected without much difficul- 
ty. The hair must be cut off immediately in front of the scrotum ; a 



STONE IN THE URETHRA. 379 

longitudinal incision must then be made, six inches in length, through 
the sheath, upon the penis, and in the direction in which it lies. The 
penis being exposed, it is seized and drawn forward in its sheath ; the 
muscles relax, the penis is readily brought into a straight direction, 
and held so for a sufficient time to admit the introduction of a stilett, 
which should either be composed of whalebone, and very flexible, or 
it should be made of iron, and jointed. The more flexible the cathe- 
ter is, the more readily it will accommodate itself to the tendency of 
the muscles to restore the inverted S curve, and the more readily 
likewise may it be bent round the bony arch beyond, and so diminish 
the length of the incision which must afterwards be made between 
the anus and the scrotum. 

The sound being passed through the curvature thus temporarily re- 
moved, and its point felt below the anus, the operator must cut into the 
urethra at that part. Into this opening he must introduce another 
rod, straight and grooved, and pass it on into the bladder ; and then, 
by means of a probe-pointed bistoury running in this groove, the 
incision must be carried on to the side of the anus, and through a 
portion of the neck of the bladder corresponding with the supposed 
size of the calculus. The operator must then pass his right hand 
into the rectum, and the two first fingers of the left hand into the 
bladder, and with the right hand guide the calculus between the 
fingers of the left hand, by which, or by means of a pair of forceps 
pushed into the wound, it should be seized and extracted. 

It is not always that there will be much bleeding, or that it will be 
necessary to take up any of the vessels, or even to pass any sutures 
through the edges of the wound, unless the incision has been more 
than usually large. The urine will for a few days be principally 
passed through the wound, but a portion of it will soon begin to find 
its ways through the urethra, and that quantity will daily increase, and, 
in quite as short a time as can be expected, the wound will be per- 
fectly healed. 

STONE IN THE URETHRA. 

On account of the length, and narrowness, and curvature of the 
urethra in the ox, obstruction of that passage by a calculus is a cir- 
cumstance of too frequent occurrence. The symptom which would 
lead to a suspicion of this, would be, in addition to the evidence of 
considerable pain and general irritation, a complete, or almost com- 
plete, suppression of urine. The practitioner should examine the 
urethra through the whole of its course anterior to the inverted S 
curve ; the calculus will then be felt, or probably the protuberance 
caused by its presence will be immediately seen. The duty of the 
surgeon is now, in most cases, easily and quickly performed. An 
oblique incision must be made upon the calculus, sufficiently long to 
enable it to be taken out. By means of the oblique incision, the 



380 CATTLE. 

calculus and the urethra are less likely to roll under the knife, and 
the wound will more readily heal. One or two sutures should be 
passed through the edges of the wound, which will speedily adhere. 
The operation is simple, but the danger of neglect is great ; and 
many a beast has been lost by the bladder being distended, and 
continuing so until violent inflammation of its mucous coat has taken 
place, or it has been ruptured. 

Should not the calculus be in this anterior portion of the urethra, 
that between the scrotum and the anus should be carefully examined ; 
and if it be not found there, it is imprisoned somewhere in the inverted 
S curve. An incision must then be made anteriorly to the scrotum, 
in the manner already described ; the penis drawn out ; the curve, for 
a while obliterated ; the situation of the obstruction discovered ; the 
urethra laid open at that point, and the calculus extracted. 

Some veterinarians have remarked, that oxen are most subject to 
the formation of these calculi during the autumn and winter ; and 
that, as the spring advances, the new grass produces a more abun- 
dant secretion of urine, and thus relaxes the urinary organs, and 
enables the calculi more easily to pass ; while the fresh herbage gives 
an alkaline and soapy character to the urine, which causes some of 
the recently formed calculi to be dissolved in the bladder. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — After an operation, it is necessary to 
dress the wound with arnica water, to give some doses of this medi- 
cine internally to prevent traumatic fever, and to give one or two 
doses of china, on account of the loss of blood. The homoeopathic 
remedy to be employed is uva ursi, which prevents inflammation, 
consequently contraction of the urethra, and assists in favoring the 
expulsion of the foreign body, if it have not already passed into the 
urethra, in which case all the medical means is in general useless. 
Lycopodium has also been tried with success. 

RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER. 

This is the necessary consequence of over-distension of a vessel, the 
coats of which are naturally weak ; or it may be produced by a care- 
less or brutal mode of casting the animal. It would not require any 
great shock in order to rupture the bladder, after suppression of urine 
had existed several days, and the coats of the bladder had begun to 
be weakened by inflammation. 

The circumstances which would most unerringly indicate a rupture 
of the bladder, would be the impossibility of detecting that vessel in 
the pelvic cavity when the hand was introduced into the rectum ; or, 
after the bladder had been felt, round and hard almost as a foot-ball, 
and the animal had been expressing in every possible way the tor- 
ture he endured, a perfect calm all at once succeeding. This would 
probably be hailed by the inexperienced practitioner as a symptom 
of recovery, but the skillful one would regard it as the forerunner of 



INVERSION OF THE BLADDER. 381 

death. If a day or two had passed since the rupture of the blad- 
der, the experienced eye would detect it by a certain engorgement 
of the limbs, and particularly of the hind limbs ; and there would 
often be an evident urinous smell about the animal, even before it 
was dead. In such case, the bladder is commonly found in a state 
of gangrene ; the intestines are highly inflamed, and the whole of 
the meat is discolored and nauseous. It is, therefore, of consequence 
to ascertain the state of these parts during the life of the animal, 
either that an operation may be attempted, or that the farmer may 
sell him, while there is anything about him that is saleable besides 
his skin. In fine, when it is recollected that the existence of these 
calculi betrays a constitutional tendency to their formation, and that 
the removal of one may at no great length of time be followed by 
the appearance of another ; when, from the length and narrowness, 
and, more especially, from the singular curvature of the urethra in 
the ox, it is very difficult for calculi to pass ; and the walls of the 
bladder in the ox are so weak it will become a matter for considera- 
tion, whether the beast, in good saleable condition, should not be 
destroyed as soon as this obstruction is clearly ascertained ; and, 
most certainly, the animal that has been successfully operated upon 
for suppression of urine, and that is not then fit for the market, 
should be fattened, and got rid of as quickly as possible. 

The cow is in a manner exempt from these sad accidents, because 
the calculi readily find their way through her short, and capacious, 
and straight urethra. 

INVERSION OF THE BLADDER. 

This has occasionally taken place in the violent throes of partu- 
rition. The efforts of the practitioner must then be confined to the 
preservation of the calf, for the bladder can never be returned to its 
natural situation ; and although the mother might possibly survive 
the removal of this vessel, yet as the urine must continue to be 
secreted, and to be got rid of, and, trickling down her legs, would 
produce constant soreness and ulceration, she would ever be a nui- 
sance to herself, and a digusting object to those who had the care 
of her. 



CHAPTEK XVI. 

PREGNANCY, PARTURITION, AND THE DISEASES 
CONNECTED WITH THEM. 

ABORTION, OR SLINKING. 

The usual period of pregnancy in a cow is nine calendar months, 
and something over ; but there is often considerable variation in the 
time of what seems to be a natural delivery, and when the calf is 
likely to live. 

M. Tessier, in a Memoir read to the Royal Academy of Science at 
Paris, says, that in one thousand and thirty-one cows, which he had 
the opportunity of observing, the shortest period of gestation was 
two hundred and forty days, and the longest three hundred and 
twenty-one — difference, eighty-one days ; and counting from nine 
months, fifty-one days over, and thirty days under. The average is 
about two hundred and eighty-five days. 

The cow, however, „is, more than any other animal, subject to 
abortion. This takes place at different periods of pregnancy, from 
half of the usual time to the seventh, or almost to the eighth 
month. The symptoms of the approach of abortion, except the 
breeder is very much among his stock, are not often perceived ; or, 
if perceived, they are concealed by the cow-herd, lest he should be 
accused of neglect or improper treatment. 

The cow is somewhat off her feed — rumination ceases — she is 
listless and dull — the milk diminishes or dries up — the motions of 
the fcetus become more feeble, and at length cease altogether — 
there is a slight degree of enlargement of the belly — there is a little 
staggering in her walk— when she is down she lies longer than 
usual, and when she gets up she stands for a longer time motionless. 

As the abortion approaches, a yellow or red glairy fluid runs 
from the vagina — (this is a symptom which rarely or never de- 
ceives) — her breathing becomes laborious and slightly convulsive. 
The belly has for several days lost its natural rotundity, and has 
been evidently falling — she begins to moan — the pulse becomes 
small, wiry, and intermittent. At length labor comes on, and is 
often attended with much difficulty and danger. 

If the abortion have been caused bv blows or violence, whether 



ABORTION, OR SLINKING. 383 

from brutality, or the animal being teased by other cows in season, 
or oxen, the symptoms are more intense. The animal suddenly 
ceases to eat and to ruminate — is uneasy, paws the ground, rests her 
head on the manger while she is standing, and on her flank when 
she is lying down — haemorrhage frequently comes on from the uterus, 
or when this is not the case, the mouth of the uterus is spasmodi- 
cally contracted. The throes come on, are distressingly violent, and 
continue until the womb is ruptured. Should not all these circum- 
stances be observed, yet the labor is protracted and dangerous. 

Abortion is sometimes singularly frequent in particular districts, or 
on particular farms. It seems to assume an epizootic or epidemic 
form. This has been accounted for in various ways. Some have 
imagined it to be contagious. It is destructively propagated among 
the cows, but this is probably to be explained on a different princi- 
ple than that of contagion. The cow is an animal considerably im- 
aginative, and highly irritable during the period of pregnancy. In 
abortion, the foetus is often putrid before it is discharged ; and the 
placenta, or afterbirth, rarely or never immediately follows it, but 
becomes decomposed, and, as it drops away in fragments, emits a 
peculiar and most noisome smell. This smell seems to be singularly 
annoying to the other cows — they sniff at it, and then run bellow- 
ing about. Some sympathetic influence is exercised on their ute- 
rine organs, and in a few days a greater or less number of those 
that had pastured together likewise abort. Hence arises the rapid- 
ity with which the foetus is usually taken away and buried deeply, 
and far from the cows ; and hence the more effectual preventive of 
smearing the parts of the cow with tar or stinking oils, in order to 
conceal or subdue the smell ; and hence, too, the ineffectual pre- 
venting of removing her to a far distant pasture. 

The pastures on which the blood or inflammatory fever is most 
prevalent are those on which the cows oftenest slink their calves. 
Whatever can become a source of general excitation and fever is 
likely, during pregnane)^ to produce inflammation of the womb : 
or whatever would, under other circumstances, excite inflammation 
of almost any organ, has at that time its injurious effect determined 
to this particular one. 

There is no farmer who is not aware of the injurious effect of the 
coarse, rank herbage of low, marshy, and woody countries, and he 
regards these districts as the chosen residence of red water ; it may be 
added, that these districts are also the chosen residence of abortion. 

Hard and mineral waters are justly considered as laying the foun- 
dation of many diseases in cattle, and for abortion among the rest. 

Some careful observers have occasionally attributed abortion to the 
disproportion in size between the male and female. Farmers used 
to be too fond of looking out for a great overgrown bull for their 
dairy or breeding cows, and many a heifer or little cow was seri- 



384 CATTLE. 

ously injured : she either cast her calf, or was lost in parturition. 
This error has been long exploded among the breeders of sheep ; 
and breeders of cattle are beginning to act more wisely. 

Cows that have been long afflicted with hoose, and that degener- 
ating into consumption, are exceedingly subject to abortion. They 
are continually in heat — they rarely become pregnant, or if they 
do, a great proportion of them cast their calves. When consump- 
tion is established, and the cow is much wasted away, she will rarely 
retain her calf during the natural period of pregnancy. 

An in-calf beast will scarcely have hoove to any considerable 
extent without afterwards aborting. The pressure of the distended 
rumen seems to injure or destroy the foetus. Even where the dis- 
tension of the stomach does not wear a serious character, abortion 
often follows the sudden change from poor to luxuriant food. Cows 
that have been out and half-starved in the winter, and incautiously 
turned on rich pasture in the spring, are too apt to cast their 
calves from the undue general or local excitation that is set up ; 
and, as has been already remarked, a sudden change from rich 
pasture to a state of comparative starvation will produce the same 
effect, but from an opposite cause. Hence it is that when this dispo- 
sition to abort first appears in a dairy, it is usually in a cow that 
has been lately purchased. Fright, from whatever cause, may pro- 
duce abortion. There are singular cases on record of whole herds 
of cows slinking their calves after being terrified by an unusually 
violent thunder-storm. Commerce with the bull soon after concep- 
tion is a frequent cause of abortion. The casting of the calf has 
already been attributed to the sympathetic influence of the effluvia 
from the decomposing placenta : there are plenty of instances in which 
other putrid smells have produced the same effect, and therefore 
the inmates of crowded cow-houses are not unfrequently subject to 
this mishap. 

The use of a diseased bull will occasion abortion, and the calves 
will be aborted in a diseased state. 

Besides these tangible causes of abortion, there is the mysterious 
agency of the atmosphere. There are certain seasons when abortion 
is strangely frequent and fatal ; while at other times it in a manner 
disappears for several successive years. 

There is no doubt that this must be added to the number of epi- 
demic diseases. 

The consequences of premature calving are frequently of a very 
serious nature. It has been stated that there is often considerable 
spasmodic closure of the mouth of the uterus, and that the calf is 
produced with much difficulty and pain, and especially if a few days 
have elapsed after the death of the young one. When this is the 
case, the mother frequently dies, or her recovery is much slower than 
after natural parturition. The coat continues rough and staring for 



ABORTION, OR SLINKING. 



a long time — the skin clings to the ribs — the appetite does not re- 
turn, and the milk is dried up. Some internal chronic complaint now 
takes its rise, and the foundation is laid for consumption and death. 

When the case is more favorable, the results are, nevertheless, 
very annoying. The cow very soon goes again to heat, but in a great 
many cases she fails to become pregnant ; she almost certainly does 
so if she is put to the bull during the first heat after abortion. The 
heat attain and again returns, but she does not stand to the bulling ; 
and so the season is wasted, while she becomes a perfect nuisance 
by continually worrying the other cattle. 

If she should come in calf again during that season, it is very 
probable that about the same period of utero-gestation, or a little 
later, she will again abort ; or that when she becomes in calf the 
following year, the same fatality will attend her. Some say that 
this disposition to cast her young one gradually ceases ; that if she 
does miscarry, it is at a later and still later period of pregnancy ; 
and that, in about three or four years, she may be depended upon 
as a tolerably safe breeder : he, however, would be exceedingly in- 
attentive to his interest who kept a profitless beast so long. 

The calf very rarely lives, and in the majority of cases it is born 
dead or putrid. If there should appear to be anj' chance of saving 
it, it should be washed with warm water, carefully dried, and fed 
frequently with small quantities of new milk, mixed, according to 
the apparent weakness of the animal, either with raw eggs or good 
gruel ; while the bowels should, if occasion requires, be opened by 
means of small doses of castor oil. If any considerable period has 
to elapse before the natural term of pregnancy would have expired, it 
will usually be necessary to bring up the little animal entirely by hand. 

The treatment of abortion will differ little from that of parturition, 
presently to be described. If the farmer has once been tormented 
by this pest in his dairy, he should carefully watch the approaching 
symptoms of casting the calf, and as soon as he perceives them, 
should remove the cow from the pasture to a comfortable cow-house 
or shed. If the discharge be glairy, but not offensive, he may hope 
that the calf is not dead : he will be assured of this by the motion 
of the foetus, and then it is possible that the abortion may yet be 
avoided. He should hasten to bleed her, and that copiously, in pro- 
portion to her age, size, condition, and the state of excitation in which 
he may find her ; and he should give a dose of physic immediately 
after the bleeding. The physic beginning to operate, he should ad- 
minister half a drachm of opium and half an ounce of sweet spirit of 
nitre. Unless she is in a state of great debility, he should allow 
nothing but gruel, and he should beep his patient as quiet as he can. 
By these means he may occasionally allay the general or local irri- 
tation that precedes or causes the abortion, and the cow may yet go 
to her full time. 

17 



386 CATTLE. 

Should, however, the discharge be fetid, the conclusion will be 
that the foetus is dead, and must be got rid of, and that as speedily 
as possible. Bleeding may even then be requisite, if much fever 
exist ; or, perchance, if there be debility, some stimulating drink 
may not be out of place. In other respects the animal must be 
treated as if her usual time of pregnancy had been accomplished. 

Much may be done in the way of preventing the formation of this 
habit of abortion among cows. The foetus must be got rid of im- 
mediately. It should be buried deep and far from the cow-pasture. 
Proper means should be taken to hasten the expulsion of the placen- 
ta. A dose of physic should be given ; the ergot of rye, as hereaf- 
ter to be described, should be administered ; the hand should be in- 
troduced, and an effort made, cautiously and gently, to detach the 
placenta : all violence, however, should be carefully avoided, for 
considerable and fatal haemorrhage may be speedily produced. The 
parts of the cow should be well washed with a solution of the 
chloride of lime, and this should be injected up the vagina, and also 
given internally. In the mean time, and especially after the expul- 
sion of the placenta, the cow-house should be well washed with the 
same solution, in the manner that was recommended when the treat- 
ment of the malignant epidemic was under consideration. 

The cow, when beginning to recover, should be fattened and sold. 
This is the first and the grand step towards the prevention of abor- 
tion, and he is unwise who does not immediately adopt it. All 
other means are comparatively inefficient and worthless. Should the 
owner be reluctant to part with her, two months at least should pass 
before she is permitted to return to her companions. Prudence 
would probably dictate that she should never return to them, but 
be kept, if possible, on some distant part of the farm. 

Abortion having once occurred on the farm, the breeding cows 
should be carefully watched. Although well fed, they should not 
be suffered to get into too high condition. Unless they are deci- 
dedly poor and weak, they should be bled between the third and 
fourth months of pregnancy, and a mild dose of physic should be 
administered to each. If the pest continues to reappear, the owner 
should most carefully examine how far any of the causes of abortion 
that have been detected may exist on his farm, and exert himself 
in carefully removing them. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Abortion seldom takes place suddenly : 
in general it is announced by several symptoms, among which may 
be noticed great disturbance, anxiety, depression of the mother, 
sudden diminution of her milk, and the escape by the vagina of a 
fetid mucous fluid. If these precursors have been themselves pre- 
ceded by any external violence, abortion is but still more probable, 
and we must hasten to prevent it. This is the reason why, after a 
blow, or a fall, there should be given without delay one or two 



TREATMENT BEFORE CALVING. 387 

doses of arnica, and if the cause has been a luxation or false step, 
rhus toxicodendron ; should the precursory symptoms still show 
themselves, ptdsatilla. is the chief remedy ; after it, sabina and secale 
cornutum. Lastly, if the abortion has really taken place, and the 
placenta delays from four to six hours, we must give sabina, or bet- 
ter still secale cornutum, which generally brings on the desired re- 
sult. We should have recourse to manual interference only in case 
these means should fail. 

SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY. 



The symptoms of pregnancy in its early stage used to be thought 
exceedingly unsatisfactory. The period of being in season (which 
generally lasts three or four days, and then ceases for a while, and 
returns in about three weeks) might entirely pass over ; and although 
it was then probable that conception had taken place, yet in a 
great many instances the hopes of the breeder were disappointed. 
It was not until between the third and fourth month, when the belly 
began to enlarge, or in many cases considerably later, and when 
the motions of the foetus might be seen, or at all events felt by 
pressing on the right flank, that the farmer could be assured that 
his cow was in calf. That greatest of improvements in veterinary 
practice, the application of the ear to the chest and belly of various 
animals (in order to detect by the different sounds — which, after a 
short time, will be easily recognized — the state of the circulation 
through most of the internal organs, and consequently the precise 
seat and degree of inflammation and danger), has now enabled the 
breeder to ascertain the existence of pregnancy at as early a stage 
of it as six or eight weeks. The beating of the heart of the calf 
will be distinctly heard, twice or more than twice as frequent as 
that of the mother ; and each pulsation will betray the singular 
double beating of the foetal heart. This will also be accompanied by 
the audible rushing of the blood through the vessels of the placenta. 
The ear should be applied to the right flank, beginning on the su- 
perior part of it, and gradually shifting downward and backward. 
These sounds will soon be heard, and cannot be mistaken. 

TREATMENT BEFORE CALVING. 

Little alteration needs to be made in the management of the cow 
for the first seven months of pregnancy ; except that, as she has not 
only to yield milk for the profit of the farmer, but to nourish the 
foetus which is growing in her womb, she should be well, yet not 
too luxuriantly, fed. The half starved cow will not adequately dis- 
charge this double duty, nor provide sufficient nutriment for the 
calf when it has dropped ; while the cow in high condition will be 
dangerously disposed to inflammation and fever, when, at the time 
of parturition, she is otherwise so susceptible of the power of every 



888 CATTLE. 

stimulus. Tf the season and the convenience of the farmer will 
admit of it, she will be better at pasture, at least for some hours in 
the day, than altogether confined to the cow-house. 

At a somewhat uncertain period before she calves, there will be 
a new secretion of milk for the expected little one ; and under the 
notion of somewhat recruiting her strength, in order better to enable 
her to discharge her new duty, but more from the uniform testimo- 
ny of experience that there is danger of local inflammation and of 
general fever, garget in the udder, and puerperal fever, if the new 
milk descends while the old milk continues to flow, it has been usual 
to let the cow go dry for some period before parturition. Farmers 
and breeders have been strangely divided as to the length of this 
period. It must be decided by circumstances. A cow in good con- 
dition may be milked much longer than a poor one. Her abundance 
of food renders a period of respite almost unnecessary ; and all that 
needs to be taken care of is that the old milk should be fairly gone 
before the new milk springs. In such a cow, while there is danger 
of inflammation from the sudden rush of new milk into a bag already 
occupied, there is also considerable danger of indurations and tumors 
in the teats from the habit of secretion being too tong suspended. 
The emaciated and overmilked beast, however, must rest awhile be- 
fore she can again advantageously discharge the duties of a mother. 

Were the period of pregnancy of equal length at all times and 
in all cows, the one that has been well fed might be milked until 
within a fortnight or three weeks of parturition ; while a holiday 
of two months should be granted to the poorer beast ; but as there 
is much irregularity about this, it may be prudent to take a month 
or five weeks as the average period. 

The process of parturition is one that is necessarily accompanied 
by a great deal of febrile excitement ; and therefore when it nearly 
approaches, not only should a little care be taken to lessen the 
quantity of food, and to remove that which is of a stimulating 
nature, but a mild dose of physic, and a bleeding regulated by the 
condition of the animal, will be very proper precautionary measures. 

A moderately open state of the bowels is necessary at the period 
of parturition in the cow. During the whole time of pregnancy 
her enormous stomachs sufficiently press upon and confine the womb ; 
and that pressure may be productive of injurious and fatal conse- 
quences, if at this period the rumen is suffered to be distended by 
unnutritious food, or the manyplus takes on that hardened state 
to which it is occasionally -subject. Breeders have been sadly neg- 
ligent here. 

NATURAL LABOR. 

The springing of the udder, or the rapid enlargement of it from 
the renewed secretion of milk — the enlargement of the external 



MECHANICAL ASSISTANCE. 



parts of the bearing (the former, as it has been said by some, in 
old cows, and the latter in young ones) — the appearance of a glar- 
ing discharge from the bearing — the evident dropping of the belly, 
with the appearance of leanness and narrowness between the shape 
and the udder — a degree of uneasiness and fidgetiness — moaning 
occasionally — accelerated respiration — all these symptoms will an- 
nounce that the time of calving is not far off. The cow should 
be brought near home, and put in some quiet, sheltered place. In 
cold or stormy weather she should be housed. Her uneasiness 
will rapidly increase — she will be continually getting up and lying 
down — her tail will begin to be elevated, and the commencement 
of the labor-pains will soon be evident. 

The natural progress of parturition should not be unnecessarily 
interfered with. The cow should be frequently looked at, but not 
disturbed. Although her pains may not be so strong as could be 
wished, she should not be too closely approached or examined until 
the water-bladder, or bag containing the fluid in which the calf has 
hitherto floated, has protruded and is broken. Soon afterward it 
may be proper to ascertain whether the calf is " coming the right 
way." In the natural presentation of the foetus, the calf may be 
considered as couching or lying on its belly ; its fore-legs protruding 
into the passage, its head lying upon them, or being a little between 
them, and reaching down about as far as the knees, and the back of 
the calf corresponding with or opposed to the back of the mother. 

While the throes continue tolerably strong, the farmer or practi- 
tioner should have patience, although the progress of the labor may 
be tediously slow. Nature will at length safely accomplish her 
object. But if the pains are evidently diminishing, and hour after 
hour has passed and the calf protrudes little or not at all more than 
it did, assistance should be rendered. A pint of sound ale, or a little 
spirit, warmed, should be given in an equal quantity of gruel ; warm 
gruel should be frequently administered, or at least put within the 
animal's reach ; and access to cold water should be carefully pre- 
vented. 

To the first pint of ale or some spirit, should be added a quarter 
of an ounce of the ergot of rye (spurred rye), finely powdered ; and 
the same quantity of the ergot, with half a pint of ale, should be 
repeated every hour until the pains are reproduced in their former 
and natural strength, or the labor is terminated. 

MECHANICAL ASSISTANCE. 

The power of medicince failing, recourse should be had to me- 
chanical assistance. Twelve hours or more having elapsed from the 
commencement of the labor, this should be done, even although the 
calf may continue to be alive ; and it should not be deferred one 



390 CATTLE. 

moment after it is ascertained that the foetus is dead. Even now, 
however, the cow should not be disturbed more than is absolutely- 
necessary ; and it cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind of 
the farmer, that the frequent habit of rousing the poor animal, and 
driving her about, while she is in the act of calving, or even before 
the labor begins, is an unnatural, brutal, and dangerous one. 

Mr. Skellett, in his work on " the Parturition of the Cow," (a truly 
valuable one as it regards the point now under consideration, the 
mechanical assistance that can be rendered in difficult and protracted 
labor,) observes, "As the business proceeds, and the pains increase 
in strength and rapidity, she confines herself to a lying posture, and 
in this posture she is delivered of the calf. When we reflect on this 
conduct of the animal, left to herself, we cannot too much reprobate 
the advice of those who recommend the driving her in the act of 
calving, or immediately before it takes place. The author has known 
a great many instances where it has proved the death of the cow, by 
producing inflammation and all its bad consequences. Every ra- 
tional man will agree that the above practice is both cruel and in- 
consistent ; for the animal herself, as soon as the hours of calving 
come on, immediately leaves the rest of the flock, and retires to some 
corner of the field, or under a hedge, in order to prevent the other 
cows or anything else coming near, that may disturb her in bringing 
forward her young." 

If the head be sufficiently advanced to be grasped by the hands, 
or for a hand to be introduced by the side of it so as to urge it 
forward, an assistant at the same laying hold of the fore-legs, and 
pulling with moderate force at each of the throes of the mother, the 
little animal may often be brought forward without endangering its 
life. If, however, it be firmly impacted in the passage, a cord with 
a slip knot should be fastened round each leg, immediately above the 
fetlock, and a third cord around the lower jaw. Greater power may 
then be applied, the persons holding the cords pulling in concert, 
accommodating themselves to the natural pains of the mother, and 
exerting their strength, although somewhat forcibly, yet quietly and 
gradually. Here again the brutal violence resorted to by some per- 
sons is much to be reprobated ; it inevitably destroys the calf, and 
endangers the life of the mother. If the foetus cannot be extracted 
by moderate force, one of the shoulders should be slipped (taken off,) 
which may easily be effected by means of a small knife curved like 
those used for pruning, so as to be easily introduced into the pass- 
age in the hollow of the hand, and there used without danger of 
wounding the cow. An incision should be made in the fore-arm of 
the foetus, and the skin elevated and turned back by means either of 
the knife or the fingers. The shoulder may then be easily detached 
from the body and drawn out ; and the bulk of the calf being thus 
materially lessened, the remainder of it will be readily extracted. 



UNNATURAL PRESENTATION. 391 



UNNATURAL PRESENTATION. 

It will soon be evident whether the calf is in the right position. 
The appearance of the feet and the situation of the head will be 
satisfactory on this point ; but from fright, or violence, or some un- 
known cause, the position of the foetus is sometimes strangely altered, 
so as to render its extraction difficult or impossible. 

In some cases, although the throes rapidly succeed each other and 
are not deficient in power, nothing, or perhaps only the mere hoofs, 
protrude from the vagina. This must not be suffered long to con- 
tinue, for if it does, the strength of the cow will be rapidly wasted. 
The hand and arm, having been well oiled, must be introduced into 
the passage, in order to ascertain the position of the foetus. The 
whole of the passage being probably well occupied by the head or 
fore-limbs, and the uterus and the vagina powerfully contracting, the 
arm of the operator will receive very considerable and benumbing 
pressure ; and sometimes to such an extent that the perfect feeling 
of the limb will not be restored until some hours have passed. This 
must not be regarded, but the surgeon must steadily, yet not vio- 
lently, push the arm forward, taking care that he does not wound 
the cow with his nails. 

If he find the fore-feet far up the passage, and the head between 
them, but sunk down below the bones of the pelvis, he will immedi- 
ately perceive that the extraction of the calf is impossible while it 
remains in this position. He will therefore pass a cord with a slip- 
knot round each of the feet, and then push them back into the womb. 
Next, with the slip-knot of a third cord in his hand, he will push 
back the whole of the foetus gradually, but firmly, until he is able to 
get his hand under the head and elevate it and pass the noose round 
the lower jaw : then, grasping the upper jaw and endeavoring thus 
to raise the muzzle above the rim of the pelvis, his assistants will 
draw the three cords, and easily bring the head and the feet into the 
passage in the natural position. 

If the head be not depressed between the feet, but bent down on 
one side below the passage, cords must be put round the fore-feet, 
and they are to be returned as in the other case. The head is to be 
sought out, and a noose passed round the jaw, and then the operator 
putting his hand against the chest of the foetus and pushing it back, 
his assistants are to gently draw the three cords, until the head and 
the feet are properly placed. Great care should, however, be taken, 
that in drawing out the fore-feet the womb is not injured by the 
hoofs ; they should generally be brought forward separately, and 
guarded by the hand of the operator within the womb. If there 
should be insuperable difficulty in raising and bringing the head 
round, and the calf be dead, the skin must be turned back from one 
of the legs, beginning at the fore-arm and reaching the shoulder, as 



892 CATTLE. 

already described, and the shoulder detached, which, considering the 
weakness of the muscles and ligaments at that age, will be readily 
effected. The assistant then pulling steadily at the legs, and the 
surgeon forcing the chest back into the belly, the extraction of the 
foetus will rarely be difficult. 

It may happen that after many thoes no portion of the foetus ap- 
pears, but the calf is found turned in the womb, with his back rest- 
ing on the belly of the mother, the feet against the spine, the head 
depressed below the bones of the pelvis, and the poll pressing against 
these bones. To turn the calf in this position will be difficult, and 
often impossible ; but, cords having been fastened, as before, to the 
feet and the lower jaw, the hand should be introduced under the 
head, so as to raise it in some measure, and enable the assistants, by 
means of the cords, to bring it and the feet into the passage. If the 
foetus should be dead, or the life of the mother appear to be in dan- 
ger, it will be very easy, while in this position, to separate one or 
both shoulders, and the head may then be readily brought out. 

It is not uncommon for the tail alone to be seen at the mouth of 
the passage. This is a breech presentation, and a very dangerous 
one. The calf cannot be expelled by the natural throes of the 
mother, the doubling of the hind-legs offering an insuperable obstacle ; 
nor will it be possible for the foetus to be turned in the womb. The 
hand must be introduced ; one of the hocks searched out, and the 
noose end of a cord brought round it : next, the free end of the cord 
must be carried in and passed through the noose, which is to be 
tightened and fixed above the hock. The operator must then press 
against the breech, forcing the calf backward and upward, while the 
assistants draw the hock to the commencement of the passage by 
means of the cords. The surgeon should then shift his hand down 
to the hoof, in order to guard the uterus, as the foot is brought over 
the ridge of the pelvis. The other hock being afterwards drawn 
from under the foetus in the same way, the birth may be easily ac- 
complished. 

The birth being effected, the practitioner should examine the 
womb, in order to ascertain the state of the placenta, and whether 
there is a Second calf. The case of twins will not often give the 
practitioner much trouble, for the calves are generally small and 
easily brought through the passage, unless they should both present 
themselves at the same time ; therefore, at the commencement of 
every labor, the surgeon should carefully ascertain whether the parts 
presenting may not belong to two distinct calves ; in which case one 
must be pushed back until the other is delivered, for in the attempt 
to extract them both together, the mother and the calves would in- 
evitably perish. 

FREE-MARTINS. 

The opinion has prevailed among breeders from time out of date, 



THE UjESAKIAN OPERATION. 393 

that when a cow produces two calves, one of them a bull-calf and 
the other a heifer-calf, the male may become a perfect and useful 
bull, but the female will be incapable of propagation, and will never 
show any desire for the bull. The curious name of free-martin has 
been given to this animal. That accurate inquirer, Mr. John Hun- 
ter, spared no pains or expense to ascertain the real foundation of 
this belief; and he availed himself of the opportunity of examining 
three of these free-martins. In all of them there was a greater or 
less deviation from the external form and appearance of the cow ; 
and in the head and the horns some approach to those of the ox ; 
while neither of them had shown any propensity to breed. The teats 
were smaller than is usual in the heifer ; but the outward appear- 
ance of the bearing was the same. 

They were slaughtered, and he examined the internal structure of 
the sexual parts : lie found in all of them a greater or less deviation 
from the form of the female, and the addition of some of the organs 
peculiar to the male ; and he ascertained that they were in fact 
hermaphrodites. 

It is not then a mere vulgar error that the female twin is barren ; 
On the other hand, there are several well -authenticated instances of 
these free-martins having bred. 

It would hence appear that the rule is, and a very singular anomaly 
in natural history it is, that the female twin is barren, because she is 
an hermaphrodite ; but in some cases, there not being this admixture 
of the organs of different sexes, or those of the female prevailing, she 
is capable of breeding. If the free-martin have entirely the appear- 
ance of a cow, she will breed ; if she be coarse in the horn, and ox- 
like, she will be barren. 

There have been instances of the cow producing three and even 
four calves at one birth. 

THE CAESARIAN OPERATION. 

Some practitioners have lately recommended, in desperate cases, 
the opening of the side of the mother, and the extraction of the calf. 
The circumstances must indeed be desperate which can justify such a 
procedure. If, at the very earliest period of parturition, the veteri- 
nary can ascertain that there is a malformation of the pelvis, which 
will render delivery in a manner impossible, and the breed is a valua- 
ble one, and the mother, with this malformation, would never again 
be useful as a breedieg cow, and no violent attempts have been made 
to extract the foetus — nothing has been done which could set up 
inflammation, or give a disposition to inflammatory action ; or if it 
can be clearly ascertained that there is a deformity in the fcetus, an 
enlargement of the head, or a general bulkiness, which will forbid its 
being extracted either whole or piecemeal, the practitioner might be 
justified in attempting this serious operation ; but in a later stage of 
17* 



394 CATTLE. 

the process, when the usual measures have been adopted— when the 
parts have been bruised and injured, and the animal has been fatigued 
and worn out, and the foetus itself probably has not escaped injury, 
such an operation can scarcely be defended on any principle of 
science or humanity. The writer of this work has twice attempted 
the operation, but in neither case did he save either the mother or 
the calf ; nor is he aware of any English veterinarian who has suc- 
ceeded. There is an account of one successful case by M. Chretien, 
but it is one only out of the several that he attempted, and he 
attempted this, because, on examination, he found that there was a 
hard tumor in the womb, which nearly half filled the cavity of the 
pelvis, and forbade the possibility of delivery. 

If a similar impossibility of delivery should occur in the practice of 
the veterinary surgeon ; and equally justifying the experiment, the 
operation must be thus performed. The rumen must first be punc- 
tured at the flank, or some of the solution of the chloride of lime 
introduced, in order to get rid of any gas which it contains, and thus 
to bring the uterus better into view, and prevent as much as possible 
that pressure on it, and on the intestines, which will usually cause a 
troublesome and dangerous protrusion of them as soon as an incision 
is made into the belly. The animal is then to be thrown on the left 
side and properly secured ; the light hind-leg, being detached from 
the hobbles, must be brought as far backwards as possible, and fixed 
to some post or firm object, so as to leave the right flank as much 
exposed as it can be. Commencing about two inches before and a 
little below the haunch-bone, an incision is now to be made through 
the skin, six or seven inches long, in a direction from above down- 
ward, and from behind forward, and this incision is afterwards to be 
carried through the skin, and the muscular wall of the flank. A 
bistoury being taken and two fingers introduced into the wound in 
order to protect the intestines, the wound is to be lengthened five or 
six inches more over the superior and middle part of the uterus. 

At this moment, probably, a mass of small intestines may protrude ; 
they must be put a little on one side, or supported by a cloth, and 
the operator must quickly search for the fore-feet and head of the 
foetus. An incision must be made through the uterus, of sufficient 
length to extract the calf, which must be lifted from its bed, two 
ligatures passed round the cord, the cord divided between them, and 
the young one, if living, consigned to the care of a stander-by, to be 
conveyed away and taken care of. The placenta is now to be quickly 
yet gently detached, and taken away. The intestines are to be 
returned to their natural situation, the divided edges of the uterus 
brought together and retained by means of two or three sutures, the 
effused blood sponged out from the abdomen, and the muscular 
parietes likewise held together by sutures, and other sutures passed 
through the integuments. Dry soft lint is then to be placed over the 



INVERSION OF THE WOMB. 395 

incision, and retained on it by means of proper bandages, and the 
case treated as consisting of a serious wound. 

EMBRYOTOMY, 

In cases of malformation of the calf, or when, as now and then 

happens, the powers of nature seem to be suddenly exhausted, and 

no stimulus can rouse the womb again to action, the destruction of 

the foetus, should it still live, and the removal of it piecemeal, is a far 

more humane method of proceeding, and much oftener successful. 

All that will be necessary will be a very small kind of pruning knife, 

already described, with the blade even a little more curved than 

those knives generally are, and that can be carried into the passage 

in the hollow of the hand with scarcely the possibility of wounding 

the cow. A case related by M. Thibeaudeau will best illustrate this 

operation. " I amputated the left shoulder of the foetus, in spite of 

the difficulties which the position of the head and neck presented. 

Having withdrawn this limb, I made an incision through all the Car- 
es t ■ ' o 

tilages of the ribs, and laid open the chest through its whole extent, 
by means of which I was enabled to extract all the thoracic viscera. 
Thus having lessened the size of the calf, I was enabled, by pulling 
at the remaining fore-leg, to extract the foetus without much resist- 
ance, although the head and neck were still bent upon the chest. 
The afterbirth was removed immediately afterwards. A cow the 
neck of whose uterus was so constricted that the finger could scarcely 
be introduced ; I divided the stricture, and saved both cow and calf." 

INVERSION OF THE WOMB, 

In the convulsive efforts in order to accomplish the expulsion of 
the foetus, the womb itself sometimes closely follows the calf, and 
hangs from the bearing, as low as or lower than the hocks, in the 
form of a large red or violet-colored bag. This is called " the down- 
fall of the calf -bag." It should be returned as soon as possible, for 
there is usually great pressure on the neck of the womb, which 
impedes the circulation of the blood, and the protruded part quickly 
grows livid and black, and is covered with ulcerated spots, and 
becomes gangrenous and mortified ; and this is rapidly increased by 
the injury which the womb sustains in the continual getting up and 
lying down of the cow in these cases. 

The womb must first be cleansed from all the dirt which it may 
have gathered. If much swelling has taken place, and the bag looks 
thickened and gorged with blood, it should be lightly yet freely 
scarified, and the bleeding encouraged by warm fomentations. While 
this is done, it should be carefully ascertained whether there is any 
distension of the rumen, and if there is, either the common puncture 
for hoove should be made in the flank, or a dose of the solution of the 



396 CATTLE. 

chloride of lime adminstered. A distended rumen would form an 
almost insuperable obstacle to the return of the uterus. Two persons 
should now support the calf-bag by means of a strong yet soft cloth, 
while, if the placenta yet remains attached to it, a third person gently 
separates it at every point. It would be useless to attempt to return 
the womb until the cleansing is taken away, for the labor pains 
would return as violently as before. The operator will carefully 
remove the little collections, or bundles of blood-vessels, which belong 
to the foetal portion of the placenta, and which are implanted into 
the fleshy excrescences, that, for some reason, never yet fully ex- 
plained, grow upon the surface of the impregnated womb, and grad- 
ually disappear again after the birth of the calf. If much bleeding 
attend this process, the parts are to be washed with a weak mixture 
of spirit and water. The bleeding being a little stayed, and every 
thing that may have gathered round the calf-bag being removed, the 
assistants should raise the cloth, and bring the womb on a level with 
the bearing ; while the surgeon, standing behind, and having his 
hand and arm well oiled, and a little oil having been likewise smeared 
over the womb generally, places his right hand, with the fingers bent 
or clenched, against the bottom — the very inferior and farther part 
of that division or horn of the uterus which contained the foetus, and 
forces it through the passage, and as far as he can into the belly ; and 
there he retains it, while, with the other hand, he endeavors likewise 
to force up the smaller horn, and the mouth of the womb. He will 
find considerable difficulty in effecting this, for the strainings against 
him will often be immense, and sometimes, when he thinks he has 
attained his object, the whole will again be suddenly and violently 
expelled. A bleeding from the jugular, and the administration of a 
couple of drachms of opium, will materially lessen these spasmodic 
efforts. The surgeon must, in spite of fatigue, patiently persist in his 
labor until his object is accomplished ; and he will be materially 
assisted in this by having the cow either standing, or so placed on 
straw that her hinder parts shall be considerably elevated. 

The practitioner should be careful that the parts are returned as 
nearly as possible into their natural situation, and this he will easily 
ascertain by examination with the hand. Much of the after quietness 
of the animal, and the retention of the womb thus returned, will 
depend upon this. 

Although the return of the parts to their natural situation may be 
tolerably clearly ascertained, yet it will be prudent to provide against 
a fresh access of pain and another expulsion of the uterus. For this 
purpose it had been usual to pass three or four stitches of small tape 
through the lips of the bearing ; but this is a painful thing, and some- 
times difficult to accomplish ; and the cases are not unfrequent when 
these stitches are torn out, and considerable laceration and inflam- 
mation ensue. 



RUPTURE OF THE UTERUS. 397 

A collar should be passed round the neck of the cow, composed of 
web : a girth of the same material is then put round the body behind 
the shoulders, and this is connected with the collar, under the brisket 
and over the shoulder, and on each side. A second girth is passed 
behind the first, and a little anterior to the udder, and connected with 
the first in the same way. To this, on one side, and level with the 
bearing, a piece of stout wrapping cloth or other strong material, 
twelve or sixteen inches wide, is sewed or fastened, and brought over 
the bearing, and attached to the girth on the other side in the same 
manner. A knot on each side will constitute the simplest fastening, 
and this pressing firmly on the bearing will effectually prevent the 
womb from again protruding. If it should be necessary, another 
piece may be carried from below the bearing over the udder to the 
second girth, and a corresponding one, slit in order to pass on each 
side of the tail, may reach from above the bearing to the upper part 
of the second bandage. 

The cow should be kept as quiet as possible ; warm mashes and 
warm gruel should be allowed ; bleeding should again be resorted to, 
and small doses of opium administered if she should be restless, or 
the pains should return ; but it will not be prudent during the first 
day to give either those fever medicines, as nitre and digitalis, which 
may have a diuretic effect and excite the urinary organs, or to bring 
on the straining effect of purging, by administering even a dose of 
saline medicine. Should twenty-four hours pass and the pains not 
return, the stitches may be withdrawn from the bearing, or the ban- 
dage removed. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The operation, returning the womb, be- 
ing concluded, administer arnica internally, and throw up injections 
of arnica water, which are very advisable, more especially when the 
accident has been occasioned by difficult parturition, or when the 
extractions of the after-birth have injured the womb. When there 
is fever, and an inflammatory state, administer forthwith a couple of 
doses of aconitum. If the accident have been produced by great 
efforts in parturition, we must have recourse to sepia and to platina ; 
and, if it make its appearance a little after calving, especially when 
the mother is lying down, benefit will be derived from china (two 
doses each day). Pulsatilla and sepia are specifics when the fall of 
the womb has been occasioned by efforts made to expel the placenta ; 
if the anus has become depressed, cocculus would appear more par- 
ticularly useful. 

RUPTURE OF THE UTERUS. 

Another more serious evil sometimes accompanies inversions of the 
womb, namely, a laceration or rupture of that organ, effected either 
by the unusually strong contraction of the womb, or by the violence 
with which the feet of the calf are drawn forward in the unskillful treat- 



398 CATTLE. 

ment of false presentation, or by the general concussion which 
accompanies the expulsion of the womb. The laceration is some- 
times a foot in length, and is generally found on one side, and not 
far from the bottom of the uterus. 

The animal needs not to be abandoned even in such a case, al- 
though there will be considerably more difficulty in returning the 
womb, because the same pressure cannot be made with the doubled 
hand on the bottom of it, and that difficulty may be increased by 
the furious state of the beast suffering much intensity of pain, and 
the whole frame disordered by such an accident. No time should 
be lost in vain efforts to bring the lacerated parts together and se- 
cure them by stitches ; but, the womb having been well cleaned, the 
placenta removed, and the bleeding somewhat stayed, it must be 
returned as well and as speedily as can be managed, and the band- 
age applied, or the lips of the bearing secured by stitches : the 
cow should then be bled, and opiates administered. Nature will 
often do wonders here— the mischief will be repaired — the uterus 
will become whole again, and that without a tenth part of the fever 
that might be expected ; and there are instances upon record in 
which the cow lias suckled her calf, and produced another a twelve- 
month afterwards. 

Rupture of the uterus may occur without protrusion of the part, 
from the too powerful action of that organ. The symptoms are 
obscure — they have not yet been sufficiently observed. They would 
probably be gradual ceasing of the labor pains — coldness of the 
horns and ears and mouth — paleness of the mouth — a small and 
accelerated pulse — swelling of the belly, and the discharge of bloody, 
glairy, fetid matter from the shape. Nothing can be done in such 
a case. 

Homoeopathic treatment — This will be the same as for mere inver- 
sion of the womb. 

PROTRUSION OF THE BLADDER. 

In long protracted labor, accompanied by pains unusually violent, 
the bladder has protruded. If the calf be not already born, it must 
be extricated as quickly as the case will admit, and that without 
scrupulous regard to the safety of the cow ; for the protruded blad- 
der can never be returned to its natural situation — in consequence of 
pain and inconvenience, the animal can never afterwards carry high 
condition, but will be a miserable and disgusting object as long as 
she lives. 

RETENTION OF THE FCETUS. 

It may happen that the pains of parturition gradually abate, and 
at length cease. If the cow has been much exhausted or injured by 
the continuance of the labor, or the efforts made to relieve her, and 



ATTENTION AFTER CALVING. 399 

the foetus has been wounded or broken, and considerable inflammation 
and fever have been set up, she will probably die : but if she is no 
more exhausted than may be naturally expected, and the fever is 
slight, and she eats a little, she should not be abandoned. 

Mr. King relates an instructive case of this kind : — A few years 
ago I was called to see a heifer which appeared to be rather losing 
condition, and which had been observed occasionally to void some 
offensive matter from the vagina. Before I could get to her, some 
portion of a calf's fore-extremity came away. The owner was very ap- 
prehensive of her not doing well, and earnestly pressed the extraction 
of the remainder of the foetus. On examination, I found the os uteri 
so small and contracted, that I could not pass my hand ; and as the 
beast ate and drank, and was so little, either locally or constitution- 
ally, disturbed, I persuaded him to leave her to nature, watching her 
in case of assistance being required. He consented, and, by degrees, 
and in detached portions, the greater part, or perhaps the whole of 
the calf (she was not confined) came away, and she did well, and 
became fat. 

The same gentleman relates another case : A cow, healthy, fine, 
and fat, was slaughtered. The uterus was found to contain the skel- 
eton of a calf almost entire, all the soft parts having separated, and 
wholly escaped. Nothing of her history was known. There is an 
instance on record of the head of a calf (all the other parts having 
passed away unobserved) being retained in the womb eighteen 
months. Pains resembling those of parturition then came on. The 
veterinary surgeon, on examination, detected a hard round body 
which he mistook for a calculus, and which was so firmly imbedded 
in the womb that he was compelled to have recourse to a bistoury 
in order to detatch it. In a fortnight she seemed to be well. 

ATTENTION AFTER CALVING. 

Parturition having been accomplished, the cow should be left 
quietly with the calf ; the licking and cleaning of which, if it be soon 
discharged, will employ and amuse her. It is a cruel thing to sep- 
arate the mother from the young so soon ; the cow will pine, and 
will be deprived of that medicine which nature designed for her in 
the moisture which hangs about the calf ; and the calf will lose that 
gentle friction and motion which helps to give it the immediate use 
of all its limbs, and which increases the languid circulation of the 
blood, and produces a genial warmth in the half exhausted and chill- 
ed little animal. A warm mash should be put before her, and warm 
gruel, or water from which some of the coldness has been taken off. 
Two or three hours afterwards it will be prudent to give an aperient 
drink consisting of a pound of Epsom salts and two drachms of gin- 
ger. This may tend to prevent milk fever and garget in the udder. 
Attention should likewise be paid to the state of the udder. If the 



400 CATTLE. 

teats are sore, and the bag generally hard and tender, she should 
be gently but carefully milked three or four times every day. 
The natural and the effective preventive of this, however, is to let 
the calf suck her at least three times a day if it be tied up in the cow- 
house, or to run with her to the pasture, and take the teat when 
it pleases. The tendency to inflammation of the udder is much 
diminished by the calf frequently sucking ; or should the cow be 
feverish, nothing soothes or quiets her so much as the presence of 
the little one. 

THE CLEANSING. 

The placenta, or after-birth, or cleansing, should be discharged 
soon after the calving. It soon begins to act upon the uterus as a 
foreign body, producing irritation and fever : it likewise rapidly be- 
comes putrid and noisome, and if it be then retained long, it is either 
an indication of the weakly state of the cow, or it may produce a 
certain degree of low fever that will interfere with her condition. 
Every cow-leech, therefore, has his cleansing drink ready to admin- 
ister ; but it is too often composed of stimulating and injurious 
drugs, and which lay the foundation for after disease. The aperient 
drink recommended to be given after calving, with the addition of 
half a pint of good ale to it, will be the best assistant in this case, 
and the only thing that should be allowed. 

Should the cleansing continue to be retained, some have recom- 
mended that a weight of six or eight ounces should be tied to the 
cord, the gentle and continual action of which will usually separate 
the placenta from its adhesions, without any risk of haemorrhage : 
but if the after-birth should still remain in the womb, and decompo- 
sition should evidently commence, the hand must be introduced into 
the passage, and the separation accomplished as gently as possible. 

There is, however, a great deal more fear about this retention of 
the after-birth than there needs to be, and it is only the actual ap- 
pearance of inconvenience or disease resulting from it that would 
justify a mechanical attempt to extract it. It is occasionally retained 
seven or eight days, without any dangerous consequence. 

Homoeopathic treatment.. — The after- birth does not always come 
away immediately ; it sometimes remains either entirely or in part 
in the womb, a circumstance which might bring on fatal consequen- 
ces. The means to be employed in such a case have been already 
mentioned under the head abortion. Experience has ascertained 
the efficacy of several other remedies for the anamolies which may 
occur during the act of parturition ; chamomilla, pulsatilla, and 
cannabis, when the cow does not lie down, when she is restless, and 
the pains properly so called are not sufficiently marked ; secale cor- 
nutum, in case of convulsions and excessive straining ; pulsatilla, 
when the pains are too slight to advance the labor ; opium in case 



MILK FEVER— DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 401 

of complete atony. Aconitum and chamomilla are useful when the 
milk is slow in making its appearance ; arnica, when the labor has 
caused the animal to suffer much ; and nux vomica, when the lum- 
bar region afterwards appeared much weakened. 

BLEEDING (FLOODING) FROM THE WOMB. 

This, although rarely, may follow natural parturition. It is oftener 
seen when the uterus has been wounded in the forcible extraction of 
the calf, and it still more frequently follows the long retention and 
mechanical separation of the after-birth. The application of cold to 
the loins will be most serviceable in this case. A pound of nitre 
should be dissolved in a gallon of water, and the loins and bearing of 
the cow kept constantly wet by means of cloths dipped in the solution. 
The water yielded by the melting of ice mixed with salt may be 
used, being colder, and therefore more effectual. The cow may 
drink cold water, and in any quantity that she may be inclined to 
take, and large doses of opium (two drachms every second hour) 
should be administered. The hinder parts of the cow should be ele- 
vated, in order that the blood may be retained in the womb, and 
coagulate there. She should be kept perfectly quiet, and the calf 
not permitted to suck. There are few heemorrhages from the womb, 
except those produced by absolute rupture of it, which will not 
yield to this treatment. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Give arnica internally ; throw injections 
of arnica water into the womb, and give china to combat debility 
from loss of blood. 

MILK (PUERPERAL) FEVER DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 

Although parturition is a natural process, it is accompanied by a 
great deal of febrile excitement. The sudden transferring of pow- 
erful and accumulated action from one organ to another — from the 
womb to the udder — must cause a great deal of constitutional dis- 
turbance, as well as liability to local inflammation. 

The cow, after parturition, is subject to inflammation of some of 
the parts the functions of which are thus changed : it is mere local 
inflammation at first, but the system speedily sympathizes, and pu- 
erpeal fever appears. It is called dropping after calving, because it 
follows that process, and one of the prominent symptoms of the com- 
plaint is the loss of power over the motion of the hind limbs, and 
consequent inability to stand. In a great number of cases, loss of 
feeling accompanies that of voluntary motion ; and no sense of pain 
is evinced, although the cow is deeply pricked in her hind limbs. 

There are few diseases which the farmer dreads more, and that 
for two reasons ; the first is, that the animal now labors under a 
high degree of excitement, and every local inflammation, and par- 
ticularly near the parts in which the sudden change of circulation 



402 CATTLE. 

and of function has taken place, assumes a peculiar character, and 
an intensity, obstinacy, and fatality, unknown at other times : the 
second reason is, that from his inattention to the animal, or his 
ignorance of the real nature of the disease of cattle, he does not 
recognize this malady until its first and manageable state, that of 
fever, has passed, and the strength of the constitution has been un- 
dermined, and helpless debility has followed. The first symptom 
which he observes, or which the practitioner has generally the op- 
portunity to observe, is the prostration of strength which violent 
fever always leaves behind it. The early deviations from health are 
unobserved by the farmer, and probably would not always attract 
the attention of the surgeon. 

This disease is primarily inflammation of the womb, or of the 
peritoneum, but it afterwards assumes an intensity of character truly 
specific. The affection is originally that of some peculiar viscus, 
but it soon is lost in a peculiar general inflammatory state, as rapid 
in its progress as it is violent in its nature, and speedily followed 
by a prostration of vital power that often bids defiance to every 
stimulus. 

Cows in high condition are most subject to an attack of puerperal 
fever. Their excess of condition or state of plethora disposes them 
to affections of an inflammatory character at all times, and more 
particularly when the constitution labors under the excitement ac- 
companying parturition. The poorest and most miserable cattle have, 
however, sometimes had milk fever after calving ; and they have 
particularly done so when, on account of the approach of this period, 
they have been moved from scanty to luxuriant pasture, or from low 
keep to high stall feeding. Milk fever happens to cows that are very 
fresh and fat, and particularly to those that calve far on the season 
in hot weather ; but cows that are too fat often drop after calving in 
the winter ; and it is observed that the cases that occur in the win- 
ter will frequently recover, while the animals that are thus attacked 
in hot weather too generally die. 

A cow is comparatively seldom attacked with milk fever at her 
first calving, because in the present system of breeding she has sel- 
dom attained her full growth, and therefore the additional nutriment 
goes to increase of size instead of becoming the foundation of dis- 
ease. Cases, however, do occur, in which cows of three years old 
hav£ been speedily carried off by this complaint, but then they had 
been most injudiciously exposed to the forcing system. 

Much depends on the quantity of milk which the cow is accus- 
tomed to yield ; and great milkers, although they are not often in 
high condition, are very subject to this affection. All cows have a 
slight degree of fever at this time ; a very little addition to that 
will materially interfere with the secretion of milk, and, perhaps, 
arrest it altogether ; and the throwing back upon the system the 



MILK FEVER— DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 403 

quantity of milk which some of them are disposed to give, must 
strangely add fuel to the fire, and kindle a flame by which the pow- 
ers of nature are speedily consumed. Whether the present improved 
method of selection, whereby the properties of grazing and giving 
milk are united in the same animal, will increase the tendency to 
inflammation, and particularly to this dangerous species of fever, is 
a question deserving of consideration. 

Puerperal fever sometimes appears as early as two hours after 
parturition ; if four or five days have passed, the animal may gene- 
rally be considered as safe : yet a fortnight has elapsed between 
the calving and the fever. 

The early symptoms of fever are evidently those of a febrile 
character. The animal is restless, shifting her feet, pawing, and she 
heaves laboriously at the flanks. The muzzle is dry and hot, the 
mouth open and the tongue protruded. The countenance is wild, 
and the eyes staring. She wanders about mournfully lowing ; she 
becomes irritable ; she butts at a stranger, and sometimes even at 
the herdsman. Delirium follows ; she grates her teeth, foams at 
the mouth, throws her head violently about, and, not unfrequently, 
breaks her horns. The udder becomes enlarged, and hot, and ten- 
der, at the very commencement of the disease. This is always to 
be regarded as a suspicious circumstance in a cow at that time ; and 
if this swelling and inflammation be accompanied, as they almost 
uniformly are, by a partial or total suspension of the milk, that which 
is about to happen is plain enough. 

The disease is an inflammatory one, and must be treated as such, 
and being thus treated, it is generally subdued without difficulty. 
The animal should be bled, and the quantity of blood withdrawn 
should be regulated by that standard so often referred to — that rule 
without an exception — the impression made upon the circulation. 
From six to ten quarts will probably be taken away, depending upon 
the age and size of the animal, before the desired effect is produced. 
There is no malady which more satisfactorily illustrates the neces- 
sity of endeavoring to subdue as quickly as possible every inflamma- 
tory complaint of cattle by the free use of the lancet ; for all of 
them run their course with a rapidity which a person unaccustomed 
to these animals, and which the human practitioner, especially, would 
scarcely deem to be possible. To-day the cow is seen with the 
symptoms just described — she is bled, and she is relieved ; or she is 
neglected, and the fever has sapped the strength of the constitution, 
and left a fearful debility behind. The small bleedings to which 
some have recourse are worse than inefficient, for they only increase the 
natural tendency of these maladies to take on a low and fatal form. 

A pound or a pound and a half of Epsom salts, dependent on the 
size of the beast, must next be administered, with half the usual 
quantity of aromatic ingredients ; and half-pound doses of the same 



404 CATTLE. 

must be repeated every six hours. Should not the medicine soon 
begin to act, the usual quantity of aromatic medicine must be 
doubled, for in addition to the constipation usually attending fever, 
there is that which arises from the occasional state of the rumen, 
and the passage leading to it, and that insensible stomach must be 
roused to action and excited to discharge its contents, in despite of 
the stimulating influence of the spice on the constitution generally. 
The bowels must be opened, or the disease will run its course ; and, 
purging once established in an early stage, the fever will, in the 
majority of instances, rapidly subside, leaving the strength of the 
constitution untouched. 

After the physic has begun to operate, the usual sedative medi- 
cines should, if necessary, be given. 

The digestive function first of all fails when the secondary and 
low state of fever comes on. The rumen ceases to discharge its 
food, and that being retained, begins to ferment, and the paunch and 
the intestines are inflated with fetid gas, and the belly of the ani- 
mal swells rapidly. 

Next, the nervous system is attacked — the cow begins to stagger. 
The weakness is principally referable to the hinder quarters, and 
rapidly increases. She reels about for a while, and then falls ; she 
gets up, falls again, and at length is unable to rise ; her head is 
bent back toward her side, and all her limbs are palsied ; and now, 
when in too many cases no good can be done, the proprietor, for 
the first time, begins to be alarmed. 

The duration of this second stage of puerperal fever is uncertain ; 
but although it is usually more protracted than the first, the period 
in which hope may be reasonably encouraged is short indeed. If the 
cow be seriously ill, and off her feed, and does not get up again in 
two or three days, the chances are very much against her ; the 
author, however, knew one that was saved after she had suffered 
considerable fever, and had been down nine days ; and where de- 
bility is the principal symptom, and the cow seems to lie tolerably 
comfortable, and without pain, and picks a little, she may occasionally 
get up after she has been down even longer than that. 

The treatment of this stage of the disease, although there has been 
a great deal of dispute about it, depends on one simple principle — ■ 
the existence and the degree of fever. Notwithstanding there is de- 
bility, there may be fever ; although the strength of the constitution 
may have been to a great degree wasted, there may be still a 
smothered fire that will presently break out afresh. In another point 
of view, much of this apparent weakness may be deceptive ; it may 
be the result of oppression and venous congestion, and not of ex- 
haustion. 

The pulse will be the guide, and should be carefully consulted. Is 
it weak, wavering, irregular, dying away, pausing a beat or two, and 



MILK FEVER— DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 405 

then weakly creeping on again ? We must not bleed here. These 
are indications of debility that cannot be mistaken — nature wants to 
be supported, stimulated, not still further weakened. The abstraction 
of blood would kill at once. 

Is the pulse small, but regular, hard, wiry, and quickened — or is 
it full and quickened ? Blood should certainly be taken away. These 
are as plain indications of secret and destructive fire as can possibly 
be given. The practitioner should bleed, but with the finger on the 
pulse, anxiously watching the effect produced, and stopping at the 
first falter of the heart. Many a beast has been decidedly saved by 
this kind of bleeding in puerperal fever ; and many have been 
lost through neglect of bleeding. Some may have perished when 
the bleeding was carried too far, and some, if the animals were 
bled when the pulse gave indications of debility, but none when the 
pulse indicated power, and the possibility of febrile action. 

The propriety and impropriety of the abstraction of blood depends 
on the state of the pulse and the degree of fever — circumstances 
which vary in every case, and in different stages of the same case, 
and which accurate observation alone can determine. 

Next, in order of time, and first of all in importance in this stage 
of the disease, stands physic. The bowels must be opened, other- 
wise the animal will perish ; but the fever having been subdued by a 
judicious bleeding, and the bowels after that being excited to action, 
the recovery is in a manner assured. The medicine should be active, 
and in sufficient quantity ; for there is no time for trifling here. A 
scruple of the farina of the Croton-nut, and a pound of Epsom salts, 
will constitute a medium dose. For a large beast the quantity of 
the salts should be increased. Doses of half a pound should after- 
wards be given every six hours until purgation is produced. The 
usual quantity of aromatic medicine should be added. Here, too, 
the constitution of the stomachs of cattle should not be forgotten. If 
twenty-four hours have passed, and purging has not commenced, 
even after the administration of such a drug as the Croton-nut, there 
is reason to suspect that the greater part of our medicine has not 
got beyond the rumen ; and on account of the cuticular and compa- 
ratively insensible lining of this stomach, strong stimulants must now 
be added to the purgative medicine, in order to induce it to contract 
upon and expel its contents. Two drachms each of ginger, gentian, 
and carraway powder, with half a pint of old ale, may, with advantage, 
be given with each dose of the physic. 

Warm water, with Epsom salts dissolved in it, or warm soap and 
water, will form the best injection, and should be thrown up fre- 
quently, and in considerable quantities. 

Should the constipation obstinately continue, it may be worth 
while to inject a considerable quantity of warm water into the rumen, 
and thus soften and dissolve the hard mass of undigested food, and 



406 CATTLE. 

permit the medicine to come more effectually into contact with the 
coats of the stomach. The warm water would also stimulate the 
stomach to contract, and thus get rid of a portion of its contents, 
either by vomiting or purging. In the first case, there would be 
room for the exhibition of more purgative medicine ; in the other, 
the effect most of all desired would have been obtained. 

The rumen will often annoy the practitioner in another way in this 
complaint : either on account of a vitiated secretion in that stomach, 
or from the retention of the food, which, exposed to the united influ- 
ence of warmth and moisture, begins to ferment, there will be con- 
siderable extrication of gas, and the animal will swell with even more 
rapidity and to a greater extent than in simple hoove. The flanks 
should immediately be punctured, or the probang introduced, in 
order to permit the carburetted hydrogen to escape. A dose of the 
solution of the chloride of lime, as already recommended under 
" Hoove," should be given, to prevent the extrication of more gas ; 
and a greater quantity of aromatic and fever medicine should be 
added to the purgative, that the stomach may be roused to healthy 
action. 

Ere this the practitioner will have thought it necessary to pay 
some attention to the comfort of the patient. This part of medical 
treatment is too often neglected. She should have been watched 
before she actually dropped, and got as soon as possible into the 
house, and well and warmly littered up. If she drops in the field, it 
will always be difficult to get her home ; and if she continues out, 
and bad weather comes on, she will assuredly be lost. She should 
be placed on one side, or, if possible, on her belly, inclining a little to 
one side, and, as much as can be managed, in her usual position, and 
with her fore parts a little elevated, and she should be secured in 
that position by trusses of straw. She should be moved or turned 
morning and night, in order to prevent soreness and excoriation. 
Warm gruel and water should be frequently offered to her, and if 
these are obstinately refused, she should be moderately drenched 
with thick gruel. Bean and malt mashes may be given with a little 
sweet hay : but it must be remembered, that while moderate nourish- 
ment is necessary to recruit her strength and support her through 
such a disease, yet the digestive powers have usually shown that 
they have shared in the debility of the frame, and must not be too 
early or too much taxed. 

Having well opened the bowels and subdued the fever, the future 
proceedings must be regulated by the state of the patient. In 
general, little more will be necessary than attention to diet and com- 
fort. At all events, tonics and stimulants should not be too hastily 
given. It should be recollected, that the disease was essentially of 
a febrile nature. Experience will convince the practitioner, that 
there long remains a lurking tendency to the renewal of febrile ac- 



MILK FEVER— DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 407 



tion, and he will beware lest lie kindles the fire afresh ; but if the 
cow should continue in a low and weakly state, and especially if her 
remaining strength should seem to be" gradually declining, gentian 
and ginger may be administered twice in the day, in doses of half 
an ounce of the first and a quarter of an ounce of the second ; but 
the outrageous quantities of aromatics and bitters, and ardent spirits, 
that are occasionally given, cannot fail of being injurious. 

It occasionally happens that the cow appears to recover a portion 
of strength in her fore-quarters, and makes many ineffectual attempts 
to rise, but the hind-quarters are comparatively powerless. This 
partial palsy of the hind extremities is the natural consequence both 
of inflammation of the womb and of the bowels. The best remedy 
is a plaster. All embrocations are thrown away on the thick skin of 
the cow, and the constant stimulus of a plaster and the mechanical 
support afforded by it, will alone effect the desired purpose. A 
week or ten days should be given to the animal, in order to see 
whether the power of voluntary motion in these limbs will return ; 
but should the paralytic affection then remain, a sling must be con- 
trived, by which she may be supported, and during the use of which 
she may be enabled gradually to throw a portion of her weight 
upon these legs, and re-accustom them to the performance of their 
duty. 

A very singular variety of the disease has already been hinted at. 
The cow is down, but there is apparently nothing more the matter 
with her than that she is unable to rise ; she eats, and drinks, and 
ruminates as usual, and the evacuations are scarcely altered. In 
this state she continues from two days to a fortnight, and then she 
gets up well. 

There is a common consent amongst the different organs of the frame 
both under healthy and diseased action. It has been stated that a 
partial or total suppression of the secretion of milk is frequently an 
early symptom, and, in some stage or other, an almost invariable one, 
of the disease. Experience likewise shows that if the secretion of 
milk can be recalled, the restoration of the use of the limbs is not far 
distant. The teats should be frequently drawn, and the discharge of 
milk industriously solicited. This is a simple method of cure, but it 
is a far more effectual one than many imagine. 

That milk-fever is sometimes epidemic, there is every reason to 
suppose. The practitioner may, perhaps, be long without a case, 
but if one comes under his notice, he has reason to suspect that it 
will soon be followed by others. 

That there is a constitutional tendency to this complaint, cannot be 
denied. Beasts in high condition are peculiarly subject to it ; and 
an animal that has once experienced an attack of it becomes exceed- 
ingly liable to the disease at her next, or at some future calving. 
Agriculturists are perfectly aware of this ; and if a cow recovers 



408 CATTLE. 

from puerperal fever, her milk is dried, and she is fattened and sold 
without much loss of time. 

Something may be done in the way of prevention. If the cow be 
in a high, and consequently a dangerous state of condition, and has 
been fed on luxuriant pasture, it will be very proper, as has been 
already stated, to bleed her, and give her a dose of physic, and re- 
move her to a field of shorter bite, a little before her expected time 
of calving. Many valuable animals have been saved by this pre- 
caution. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The first thing to be done, is to ad- 
minister, within three or four hours, three or four doses of aconitum, 
which generally effect a perceptible calm. Then have recourse to 
Pulsatilla and nux vomica. Belladonna is also an excellent remedy, 
particularly in cases of very painful swelling of the belly, and of re- 
tention of the placenta. Chamomilla restores the secretion of milk. 
Paralysis of the hind-quarters will generally yield to nux vomica ; but 
if it does not, then it will disappear under the influence of rhus 
toxicodendron. 

SORE TEATS. 

Cows are very subject to inflammation of the udder soon after 
calving. The new or increased function which is now set up, and 
the sudden distension of the bag with milk, produce tenderness and 
irritability of the udder, and particularly of the teats. This in some 
cases shows itself in the form of excoriations or sores, or small cracks 
or chaps, on the teats, and very troublesome they are. The dis- 
charge likewise from these cracks mingles with the milk. The cow 
suffers much pain in the act of milking, and is often unmanageable. 
Many a cow has been ruined, both as a quiet and a plentiful milker, 
by bad management when her teats have been sore. It is folly to 
have recourse to harsh treatment, to compel her to submit to the in- 
fliction of pain in the act of milking ; she will only become more vio- 
lent, and probably become a kicker for life ; if by soothing and kind 
treatment she cannot be induced to stand, nothing else will effect it. 
She will also form a habit of retaining her milk, which will very 
speedily and very materially reduce its quantity. The teats should 
be fomented with warm water, in order to clean them and get rid of 
a portion of the hardened scabbiness about them, the continuance of 
which is the cause of the greatest pain in the act of milking ; and 
after the milking, the teats should be dressed with the following 
ointment : — Take an ounce of yellow wax, and three of lard, melt 
them together, and when they begin to get cool, well rub in a 
quarter of an ounce of sugar of lead and a drachm of alum finely 
powdered. 

GARGET, OR SORE BAG. 

Too often, however, the inflammation assumes another and worse 



GARGET, OR SORE BAG. 409 

character : it attacks the internal substance of the udder — one of the 
teats or the quarters becomes enlarged, hot, and tender — it soon 
begins to feel hard, it is knotty ; it contains within it little distinct 
hardened tumors or kernels. In a short space of time, other teats 
or other quarters probably assume the same character. The milk 
has coagulated in the bag to a certain degree, and it has caused local 
inflammation where it lodges. This occurs particularly in young 
cows, after their first calving, and when they are in a somewhat too 
high condition, and it is usually attended by a greater or less degree 
of fever. 

The most effectual remedy for this, in the early stage of the com- 
plaint, is a very simple one ; the calf should be put to the mother, 
and it should suck and knock about the udder at its pleasure. In 
most cases this will relieve her from the too great flow of milk, and 
disperse all the lumps. 

If the inflammation continues or increases, or the bag should be 
so tender that the mother will not permit the calf to suck ; and 
especially should the fever evidently increase, and the cow refuse to 
eat, or cease to ruminate, and the milk become discolored, and mixed 
with matter or with blood/the case must be taken seriously in hand. 
The cow should be bled ; a dose of physic administered ; the udder 
well fomented ; the milk drawn gently but completely off, at least 
twice in the day, and an ointment, composed of the following ingre- 
dients, as thoroughly rubbed into the bag as the cow will permit. 
(Rub down an ounce of camphor, having poured a tea-spoonful of 
spirit of wine upon it ; add an ounce of mercurial ointment, and half 
a pound of elder ointment, and well incorporate them together.) Let 
this be applied after every milking, the udder being well fomented 
with warm water, and the remains of the ointment washed off before 
the next milking. 

If the disease does not speedily yield to this treatment, recourse 
must be had to iodine, which often has admirable effects in diminish- 
ing glandular enlargements. The only objection to iodine, and which 
renders it advisable to give the camphoretted mercurial ointment a 
short trial, is that while, by its power of exciting the absorbents of 
the glands generally to action, it causes the dispersion of unnatural 
enlargements, it - occasionally acts upon and a little diminishes the 
gland itself. This, however, rarely happens to any considerable 
degree, and will not form a serious objection to its use when other 
means have failed. It should be applied externally, in the form of an 
ointment, (one part of the hydriodate of potash being saturated with 
seven parts of lard,) one or two drachms of which should be rubbed 
into the diseased portion of the udder, every morning and night. At 
the same time the hydriodate may be given internally, in doses grad- 
ually increased from six to twelve grains daily. 

The udder should be frequently examined, for matter will soon be- 
18 



410 CATTLE. 

gin to form in the centre of these indurations, and should be speedily- 
evacuated, lest it should burrow in various parts of the bag, and, when 
at length it does find its way to the surface and bursts through the 
skin, irregular ulcers should be formed, at all times difficult to heal, 
and sometimes involving the loss of more than one of the quarters. 
"Whenever there is any appearance of suppuration having commenced, 
(a minute observation will enable the practitioner to discover the very 
spot at which the tumor is preparing to point,) the diseased part 
should be freely and deeply lanced, and an immense quantity of mat- 
ter will often be discharged. It is generally bad practice to cut off 
the teat ; not only is it afterwards missed in the milking, but the 
quantity of the milk is usually lessened to a greater or less degree. 

Should the tumor have been left to break, a deep and ragged ulcer 
will then be formed, and must immediately be attended to, for the 
neighboring part will be rapidly involved. Half of the bag has in 
some cases become mortified in a few days, and diseased portions 
have either dropped off, or it has been necessary to remove them in 
order to stop the spread of the gangrene. The chloride of lime is an 
invaluable application here. The wound should be well cleaned with 
warm water, and then a dilute solution of "the chloride freely applied 
to every part of it ; not only will the unpleasant smell from the ulcer 
be immediately got rid of, but its destructive progress will be arrested, 
and the wound will speedily take on a healthy character. When this 
is effected, recourse may be had to the Friar's balsam ; but the 
occasional use of the chloride will be advantageous until the bag is 
perfectly healed. 

Chronic indurations will sometimes remain after the inflammation 
of garget has been subdued ; they will be somewhat tender, and they 
will always lessen the quantity of milk obtained from that quarter. 
The iodine will seldom fail of dispersing these tumors. The ointment 
just recommended should be well rubbed in twice every day, and if 
the enlargement does not speedily subside, the hydriodate should also 
be given internally. 

The causes of garget are various ; the thoughtless and unfeeling 
exposure of the animal to cold and wet, at the time of or soon after 
parturition, the neglect of physic or bleeding before calving, or suf- 
fering the cow to get into too high condition, are frequent causes. 
So powerful is the latter one, that instances are not unfrequent of 
cows, that have for some time been dried, and of heifers that have 
never yielded milk, having violent inflammation of the udder. The 
hastily drying of the cow has given rise to indurations in the udder 
that have not easily been removed. An awkward manner of lying 
upon and bruising the udder is an occasional cause ; and a very 
frequent one is the careless habit of not milking the cow clean, but 
leaving a portion in the bag, and the best portion of the milk too, 
and which gradually becomes a source of irritation and inflammation 



GARGET, OR SORE BAG. 411 

in the part. Connected with this last cause is the necessity of the 
advice already given, to milk the cow as clean as possible, at least 
twice in the day, during the existence and treatment of garget. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — 1. Inflammatory tumefaction. — A little 
time before and after calving, particularly in the first birth, often too 
at other periods, there is observed on the udder a painful inflamma- 
tory swelling : the organ is hard, tense, hot and red ; the entire, or 
only a part, is affected with swelling. The animal has rather high 
fever, a sharp thirst, the mouth is dry, and there is but little appetite ; 
the secretion of milk is more or less diminished. This disease is 
produced by different causes. The most common are contusion, 
stings of insects, cold, the too prolonged retention of milk, &c. Some 
say it has been occasioned by too little exercise. If it has been 
caused by external injury, frequently moistening the part with arnica 
water is sufficient to cure it ; a dose of it should also be taken inter- 
nally every day. Arsenicum should be employed only when the 
disease has been neglected, or when there have supervened gan- 
grenous inflammation or ill-conducted ulcerations with hard and 
everted edges. After cold, the cure is readily obtained by aconitum 
at first, then bryonia ; if the latter does not suffice, dulcamara. 
Chamomilla also has frequently proved useful. Belladonna has 
been found a specific in the treatment of erysipelatous inflammation. 
However, others recommend arnica, camphora, phosphorus and silicea. 
In the inflammation which comes on a little before or after calving, 
belladonna and chamomilla are specifics ; chamomilla more especially 
when nodosities are felt in the organ, without the external integuments 
participating in it. If the inflammation passes into gangrene, or 
produces malignant ulcers, arsenicum should be administered ; if, 
gangrene having supervened, the skin readily becomes detached, 
secale cornutum should be employed. Silicea also produces good 
effects in obstinate ulcers ; asafoztida and mercurius vivus in treating 
unhealthy suppuration. We may also in such a case recommend cabor 
vcgetabilis, calcarea carbonica, and pulsatilla, the latter more especially 
when fistulous sores begin to form. 

The abnormal swelling of the udder, especially when caused by 
cold or moisture, yields to lotions repeated several times a day with 
camphoretted brandy. 

2. Induration. — This proceeds from the same causes as inflam- 
mation, and may also result from internal causes. It is or is not 
accompanied with pains and suppression of milk : the latter often 
assumes a bad color, or undergoes some other change, becomes gran- 
ular and puriform. If the indurations are painful and consist of 
rounded tubercles, they are resolved in ten or twelve days, either by 
bryonia (one dose morning and evening), or by chamomilla, chiefly 
when the tumor yields a crackling noise on being touched. If the 
cause has been an external injury, we must have recourse to a few 



412 CATTLE. 

doses of arnica, then to conium. The indurations, both those that are 
painful as well as those which are indolent, with glandular swellings 
in the interior of the udder, yield to chamomilla, or, when they are 
very hard and obstinate, to aconitum and mercurius virus. The 
nodosities which succeed an inflammation are to be treated with 
camphora, chamomilla, and conium, of each two doses at the interval 
of two days. If resolution does not take place, hepar sulphuris (one 
dose morning and evening) causes them to break, generally at the 
end of thirty-six hours. 

3. Warts. — Warts, which are often produced in consequence of 
internal disease on the bellies of the cows in great numbers, spread 
occasionally even to the udders ; besides their repulsive appearance, 
they prevent the animal from being milked. The remedy against 
those which are flat, dry, and not pediculated, is dulcamara : thuja 
is the remedy for those which are cut and mangled, oozing, and 
suppurating : causticum has been more than once useful in the treat- 
ment of bleeding warts, and those which suppurate and are painful. 
Sometimes the wart gives place to an ulcer with everted edges, in 
which case we must have recourse to arsenicum. 

4. Wounds. — There are often produced in the teats circular cracks 
or chaps, which occasion to the animal great pain, and which, though 
often caused by the brutality of the cow-herds, are attributable in 
many cases to a morbid internal state. Those of the latter species 
require the employment of sulphur internally, to be continued for a 
considerable time". In all other circumstances, fomentations with 
arnica water are sufficient. 

MILK-SICKNESS, OR TREMBLES. 

This disease, peculiar to America, and limited to a portion of the 
valley of the Mississippi, has been reserved for this place, on account 
of the name by which it is universally known. In cattle it is not a 
disease of the udder, or its connections. It takes its name from the 
illness produced in man by the use of the milk of cattle diseased by 
the eating of some wild plant or vegetable, or the drinking of water 
poisoned bv minerals. 

Dr. Graff, of Illinois, in the American Jounal of Medical Science, 
April 1841, says : — 

The onlv name by which it is known, is that which I have used, 
which is quite objectionable, as it may serve to convey an erroneous 
impression by the supposition that milk only could produce it; 
whereas the flesh of an infected animal acts with an equal degree of 
violence and rapidity. 

It is a disease peculiar to the United States, occurring seldom, if 
ever, to the eastward of the Alleghany mountains. It is in a greater 
©r less degree met with in all the Western States, as far south as the 



MILK SICKNESS, OR TREMBLES. 413 

Mississippi, and extends north to the boundary. The States of 
Indiana and Illinois are most subject to its occurrence, whilst its 
existence in the bordering States is comparatively rare. 

Its occitrrence or prevalence is confined to no season, or description of 
weather, existing in a like degree in the heat of summer or cold of win- 
ter, and with like virulence and frequency during a dry or wet season. 

We will first speak of the symptoms manifested in cattle affected 
with it, as it is only through them that we have yet found the disease 
communicated to man. This may be affected to such a degree as 
that their flesh and milk will produce the disease, and yet they them- 
selves manifest no unhealthy symptoms whatever. This latent con- 
dition of the disease may be discovered by subjecting the suspected 
animal to a violent degree of exercise, when, according to the 
intensity of the existing cause, it will be seized with tremors, spasms, 
convulsions, or even death. This is a precaution practised by 
butchers in these countries, always before slaughtering an animal in 
anywise suspected of the poisonous contamination. An ordinary 
degree of exertion will not develope these phenomena unless it pro- 
duce the symptoms usually preceding a fatal termination. When, 
for instance, a cow is sufficiently deeply affected, nothing peculiar is 
observed until immediately preceding the outbreak of the fatal 
symptoms. She is then observedto walk about, with out any appa- 
rent object in view ; all food is refused, and there is evidence of 
impaired vision. The eye is first of a fiery appearance, increasing to 
a deep red color, until the animal is observed to stagger and fall, 
when, if she rises, the trembling of the whole muscular system will 
prevent the maintenance of the standing position. The animal usually 
dies after repeated convulsions, never lingering beyond a few hours. 
Often it falls suddenly, as if it received a blow from a heavy body on 
the head, and death is produced in a few minutes. 

The cause of this disease of animals is as yet shrouded in mystery 
and uncertainty. No satisfactory account of its nature has yet been 
given, and it has in turn been supposed to be of vegetable, mineral, 
and even aerial origin. The limits of its prevalence is not often over 
a large and continuous tract of country, but rather circumscribed, 
and surrounded by localities never known to produce it. No exam- 
ple is known in which the property of producing the disease has been 
acquired by any locality which did not previously possess it. The 
boundaries which were at the first discovery of the country found to 
separate the infected from the healthy districts, remain unchanged. 
The locality which serves to produce the disease, most commonly 
extends as a vein of variable breadth, traversing the country for a 
considerable distance. It can be traced in one instance for nearly a 
hundred miles, running parallel to the course of the Wabash river, in 
the State of Indiana. 

Again, it will be found to occupy an isolated spot, comprised in 



414 CATTLE. 

an area of one hundred acres, whilst for a considerable distance 
around it is not produced. Thus having the locality perfectly cir- 
cumscribed, much labor has been expended in order to discover some 
production peculiar to the locality. The search has been*uniformly 
unsuccessful in the attainment of its object. The general appearance 
of these infected districts is somewhat peculiar. I have always 
observed that the situation of the ground is elevated above that of 
the surrounding country, occupying what is denominated a ridge, and 
that the quality of the soil is in general of an inferior description. 
The growth of timber is not observed to be so luxuriant as in situa- 
tions otherwise similar, but is scrubby, and stunted in its perfect 
development. Throughout the entire district in which these localities 
are interspersed, there is observed an absence of the occurrence of 
stones scattered over the surface, whilst in the infected districts, they 
are almost universally present. They are of small size and darkened 
aspect externally, breaking with a regular and shining fracture, and, 
upon analysis, imperfectly made, were found to contain a considerable 
portion of iron, with slight traces of copper. Another more decided 
and peculiar appearance, which serves to distinguish them from other 
spots, is the breaking forth of numerous feeble springs, furnishing a 
trifling supply of water, but not varying in quantity with the change 
of seasons. In its appearance, it presents the general evidences of a 
sulphurous and ferruginous contamination. 

Experiments made upon the water collected from these springs, or 
more properly called oozes from the soil, with the greatest care, by 
the employment of the most delicate chemical re-agents, failed to 
indicate the presence of any mineral except iron, sulphur, traces of 
magnesia, and a quantity of copper barely capable of being demon- 
strated. A belief being entertained by many that the disease is occa- 
sioned by arsenic, or some of its salts, I, with much care and patience, 
subjected not only the water, but likewise the earth, from these dis- 
tricts to a most rigid examination, and by no test was I furnished with 
the slightest evidence of its presence. 

An intelligent medical friend expressed tome his belief, that it was 
produced by the inhalation of some noxious gases generated during 
the night ; in proof, he stated that he had observed cattle, which 
were regularly housed each evening, escaped its attacks, and that 
when suffered to remain at large, they were frequently seized with 
the disease. It is difficult to form this belief of the nature of the 
cause, as we can hardly conceive the particular action of any com- 
bination of circumstances, capable of giving rise to such an emanation 
only at night, ceasing to operate during the day. The most popular 
belief is in favor of a vegetable origin. But this appears irrecon- 
cilable with the fact that the disease has frequently appeared with 
its greatest virulence when the ground has been for weeks previously 
covered with snow. 



MILK SICKNESS, OR TREMBLES. 415 

For my own part, I would most willingly subscribe to the opinion 
that some mineral or mineral combination possesses the agency of its 
production. Yet I confess that I cannot even imagine what must be 
the nature of that substance producing such violent and anomalous 
effects, and in its operations so unlike anything with which we are 
acquainted. The cause, whatever it may be, when it enters into the 
organization of the animal, either by inducing a specific action in the 
tissues of the economy, or by a combination with some of the elements 
of the body, forms a poison not more violent in its operation than 
singular in the effects it can produce. If this cause should prove to 
be a mineral, it must be one of great subtlety, from its difficulty of 
detection, and from its virulence it must possess qualities and activity 
not equalled nor resembled by any metal or metallic combination yet 
discovered. No substance of which we have any knowledge will 
produce like phenomena. 

Hoping that if T could succeed in developing the same symptoms 
and effects by some active or poisonous article, it might, by the 
probable analogy of the agents, lead to the discovery of the nature 
of this poison, I patiently tried many. The action of none of the 
mineral poisons were found at all similar. My experiments were 
chiefly made on dogs, and in them I found the symptoms immediately 
preceding their death, occasioned by a fatal dose of strychnia, 
greatly to resemble those produced by the continued administration 
of the flesh of an animal which had perished from milk sickness. The 
appearances on dissection differ in a greater degree, and particularly 
in cases of poisoning by the vegetable proximate principle, exhibit the 
blood in a state more nearly resembling a healthy condition. With 
the view of an extensive series of experiments, I procured the body 
of a full grown cow, which had perished suddenly from the affection, 
with violent symptoms. The brain was immersed in a copious effu- 
sion of blood, and in no part of the body was it found coagulated. 
The flesh in external appearances did not differ from that of healthy 
beef, unless that it was slightly darker, and a thin bloody fluid con- 
tinually dropped from it. By exposing it by the side of a healthy 
portion, I found that the influence of the sun rendered the specimen 
from the diseased animal offensive, and turned it to a greenish hue, 
whilst the other remained comparatively sound and unaffected. It 
can possess nothing peculiar in its taste, for persons who have par- 
taken of it have not remarked anything unusual, and animals will 
exercise no preference, if the two descriptions be simultaneously pre- 
sented to them. The beef which I procured was subjected to the 
ordinary process of salting, which did not in the least affect its poi- 
sonous properties. 

Butter and cheese, manufactured from the milk drawn from an 
infected cow, are supposed to be the most concentrated forms of this 
poison. They possess no distinguishing appearance, odor, or taste, 



416 CATTLE. 

from the healthy article. A very minute quantity of. either will 
suffice to develope the disease in man. The cream, ordinarily suffi- 
cient to be added to the coffee drank at a single meal, is said to have 
induced an attack. The butter or cheese eaten at one repast has fre- 
quently been known to prove effective. The property is not con- 
tained in any of the elements of the milk exclusively, but distributed 
throughout the whole of them, being possessed by the butter-milk as 
well as the whey. Beef, in the quantity of a few ounces, will produce 
the disease, and it is believed in a more violent and fatal form than 
when it is produced by milk or any of its preparations. 

The effect of the poison is manifested throughout the entire 
system, and vitiates all the secretions. An experiment, which went 
far to prove how deeply the milk of other animals is imbued with its 
poison, was made by administering the infected meat to a bitch suck- 
ling five puppies. The effect produced in them was very sudden, 
and the entire litter died in four days, which was two days before the 
occurrence of the death of the mother. 

The subtle, poisonous principle, of whatever it may be proved to 
consist, seems to possess the power of infinite reproduction, by some 
vital or chemico-vital action of the system of those animals poisoned 
by its influence. Thus, supposing one pound of flesh to prove suffi- 
cient to produce the death of another animal, it will be found that 
each pound of flesh of that animal so destroyed, will possess as active 
powers of destruction, and will, in its turn, serve to contaminate the 
whole body of another animal in the same degree. 

Dr. J. B. Johnston, of Indiana, says : " I never knew the disease to 
prevail where there was not a free growth of weeds. I well know 
that it is circumscribed, that a small section will produce the disease, 
then an exemption for some distance, when it will again recur. So 
of some farms ; a portion will produce it, and the other will not. In 
fact, there is not a county from Floyd to the mouth of the Wabash, 
and as far north as White River, that is exempt from milk sickness ; 
and it often occurs in both Southern Illinois and Kentucky. I have 
never heard of it above the 41st degree of north latitude, and it 
seldom reaches that line. My firm convictions are, that the disease 
termed milk sickness is produced by the rhus toxicodendron, or poison 
oak, and that it is a separate and distinct species from the radicans, 
or 2^>oinon vine. It is further stated that the poison oak never vines — 
that it is never seen to take hold on trees, and that it grows from one 
to three feet in height ; that it has three, while the radicans or poison 
vine has five leaves." 

Dr. Mcllhenny, of Ohio, who has paid much attention to this dis- 
ease, says ; " On the cause of milk sickness, we must be allowed to 
express our decided conviction, that it is produced by the rhus toxi- 
codendron, or poison oak, for the following reasons : — 

1. Milk sickness does not prevail where there is no rhus — that iu 



MILK SICKNESS, OR TREMBLES. 417 



ever)' section of country where none of the small rhus can he found, 
there can be none of the trembles found. 

2. It does universally exist where there is an abundance of the 
smaller rhus. 

3. It never occurs until vegetation comes forth in the spring. 

4. Where it prevails most, the rhus is in its greatest luxuriance. 

5. After the heavy frosts kill all vegetation, the disease subsides. 

6. It is a well known fact, that cultivation kills the poison oak — 
entirely destroys it. 

7. It is equally as well established, that animals kept within a 
well cultivated enclosure are perfectly exempt from the disease. 

8. Almost every observant and intelligent individual who has been 
raised amidst the disease, has come to the conclusion, that the rhus 
toxicodendron is the cause of milk sickness. 

9. That it is distinguished from the radicans, or common poison 
vine, by its different number of leaves — also, by its acridness of 
character. 

10. A certain locality produces the disease, find it where you may, 
such as flat, heavy timber-land, interspersed with hazle and other 
underbrush, which is quite productive of the rhus. 

11. The seldom appearance of the disease on hilly, dry ground, is 
in consequence of such a place not being congenial to the production 
of that plant, so that what little does exist, is not so apt to produce 
the disease, in consequence of its unhealthy growth." 

" As to the pathology of this disease I know but little. I have 
treated quite a number of cases, but have never been favored with a 
post mortem examination ; consequently, I have had no other means 
of ascertaining morbid appearances than that of judging from symp- 
toms : the mere external developments of the internal condition. We 
are told, however, that in animals which die of this disease, the mani- 
folds, or mesentery, is in a hard, dry condition, and, in many cases, 
perfectly black ; and that all the folds which lie enclosed in the 
bowels, and are in close contact with them, are frequently in such a 
brittle condition, that they can be readily broken, particularly those 
that envelope the stomach ; and that traces of inflammatory action 
can be frequently discovered the whole length of the intestinal canal ; 
but the greater amount, those that have left the deepest marks, are 
to be seen in and around the stomach and duodenum. 

" If this should be a true condition of the morbid appearances of 
the animal, which we are satisfied it is, we may reasonably expect 
that the same results are to be seen in the human subject. So far, 
~ however, as my opinion goes, I believe that the poison, when taken 
into the stomach, produces inflammation of that organ, particularly 
confined to the mucous coat ; that inflammation continuing, thickens 
the mucous lining to such an extent that it closes, in proportion to 
its severity, the passage from the stomach to the bowels. I am 
18* 



418 CATTLE. 

satisfied that there is inflammation down to the upper part of the 
bowels, but, generally, in a slight degree. I do not believe that there 
is any general inflammatory condition of any of the chylopcetic vis- 
cera, but that the entire force of the disease is spent upon the sto- 
mach, and, perhaps, duodenum. 

" From what observation I have been able to make upon the sub- 
ject, I am inclined to the opinion that the lower portions of the 
bowels remain, measurably, if not entirely, exempt from inflamma- 
tion ; that it is entirely a disease of the stomach ; that in proportion 
to the severity with which that organ is attacked, in that proportion 
will the chylopcetic viscera become deranged. 

" Another proof that the disease is inflammatory, is the constipated 
condition of the bowels. There could not be such a dry and hardened 
condition of the fecal matter produced by any other derangement, 
excepting that of inflammatory action. 

" I have been led to make these remarks, in consequence of an 
opinion that is prevalent with some of our practitioners, that the 
disease is nervous ; that the great gastric irritability is, or might be, 
attributed to nervous excitement. This, to me, appears impossible ; 
for, if the nerves of the stomach were in such a morbid condition, 
acting under such a powerful excitement as to produce such distress- 
ing symptoms, would not the brain become sympathetically affected ? 
Would we not have an apparent case of phrenitis ? Whereas, the 
mind, generally, remains quiet. We sometimes see mental depression, 
but rarely ever mental aberration." 

Professor Drake, of Kentucky, says : " In the earliest stages of 
this malady, in the cow, it may not display its existence, if the attack 
be not violent and the animal left to itself ; for in the beginning, as 
in all stages of the disorder, the appetite seems to be unimpaired, 
and the thirst not increased. Even this early stage, not less than 
the more advanced, appears, however, to be attended with constipa- 
tion of the bowels. The animal at length begins to mope and droop, 
to walk slower than its fellows, and to falter in its gait. If, under 
these circumstances, it should be driven, and attempt to run, the 
debility and stiffness of its muscles are immediately apparent. It 
fails rapidly, trembles, pants, and sometimes seems blind, as it runs 
against obstacles, but this may arise from vertigo ; at length it falls 
down, lies on its side quivering, and is not, perhaps, able to rise for 
several hours, sometimes never. Now and then, the quivering 
amounts to a slight convulsion. When the disease is not violent, the 
animal, after a longer or shorter period, is again on its feet ; but its 
capacity for muscular effort is greatly impaired, and, if hurried in 
the slightest degree, it is seized with trembling and stiffness, and 
may even fall again. Of the state of the circulation, when it lies 
seriously ill, but little is known, as the pulse has not been inspected. 
One observer perceived that the nose of a heifer was hot, but others 



CO\tf-POX. 419 

have found that part of the skin generally cool. Perhaps their ob- 
servations were made in different stages of the disease. While lying 
unable to walk, the animal will still eat freely, and also take drink, 
but does not seem to have excessive thirst. Its costiveness continues 
to the last when the malady goes on to a fatal termination. Of the 
symptoms- which precede dissolution we could not obtain a satisfactory 
account. Our witnesses generally declared, however, that the abdomen 
does not swell in any stage of the disease. When it assumes a 
chronic form, the animal is liable, for weeks and even months, to 
muscular infirmity under exercise, looks gaunt and thin, its hair as- 
sumes a dead appearance, and sometimes falls off in considerable 
quantities, especially from the neck." 

" We met with no medical gentleman who had subjected animals 
laboring" under this disease to a systematic, or even varied empirical 
treatment. All the people of the district have one and the same indica- 
tion to fulfill, that of opening the bowels. When this can be effected, 
the animal, they say, scarcely ever dies — when it cannot, death 
occurs. For the fulfillment of this indication, Epsom salts has been 
administered in very large quantities, even to pounds, but without 
effect. Drenches of lard and various mixtures have also been given, 
with no satisfactory result. Judge Harold, near South Charleston, 
has exhibited calomel followed by lard — no essential benefit. Dr. 
Toland has administered the oil of turpentine, in doses of eight, 
twelve, and sixteen ounces, without advantage. An opinion is pre- 
valent, that drenching animals injures them by causing them to strug- 
gle. On the whole, we found among the people of the district a 
total want of confidence in all kinds of cathartic medicines ; and an 
exclusive reliance on Indian corn. Some preferred old corn, some 
new, and others that which had been frost-bitten, This is fed to all these 
species of animals that are accustomed to eat it, and is said never to 
be refused. The more the animal will eat, the greater is the hope 
of the owner. It is said to produce purging, when every other 
means have failed, and then, it is affirmed, recovery is almost certain. 
On these points we found but one opinion in the district. Several 
of its physicians, after trying other things, had, with the people, set- 
tled down on this." 

" We found blood-letting not in favor. Dr. Toland supposes it has, 
generally, been employed at too late a period. Many non-professional 
persons spoke of having resorted to it without advantage, and some 
thought it had done harm." 

[A friend assures the editor that early bleeding, purgation, and 
injections, have proved effectual to remove the disease in most cases.] 

COWtPOX. 

Cows are subject to two distinct species of pustular eruption on 
the teats. Little vesicles or bladders appear ; they often differ con- 



420 CATTLE. 

siderably in size and form, and are filled with a purulent matter. In 
the course of a few days a scab forms upon them, which peels off, 
and the part underneath is sound. If the pustules are rubbed off in 
the act of milking, or in any other way, small ulcers are left, which 
are very sore, and sometimes difficult to heal. 

The best treatment is washing and fomenting ; a dose of physic, 
and the application of the ointment for sore teats recommended in 
page 408. The cause, like that of many other pustular eruptions, is 
unknown ; except that it is contagious, and is readily communicated 
from the cow to the milker, if the hand be not quite sound, and from 
the milker to other cows. 

There is another kind of pustular eruption, of a more important 
character, and with which the preceding one has been confounded. 
It also consists of vesicles or bladders on the teats ; but they are 
larger, round, with a little centra] depression ; they are filled at first 
with a limpid fluid, which by degrees becomes opaque and purulent, 
and each of them is surrounded by a broad circle of inflammation. 
This is more decidedly a constitutional disease than the former. The 
cow exhibits evident symptoms of fever ; she does not feed well ; 
sometimes she ceases to ruminate, and the secretion of milk is usual- 
ly diminished. 

These pustules go through a similar process with the former 
ones — they dry up, and at length the scabs fall off, leaving the skin 
beneath sound ; but if they are broken before this, the ulcers are 
larger, deeper, of a more unhealthy character, and generally far more 
difficult to heal. This is the genuine cow-pox. 

The treatment is nearly the same, except that, being accompanied 
by more constitutional disturbance, an aperient is more necessary, 
and it may occasionally be prudent to abstract blood. The frequent 
application of Goulard's lotion, with an equal portion of spirit of 
wine, will, at least in the early stage of the ulcer, be preferable to 
the ointment ; but better than this, and until the ulcers are begin- 
ning to heal, will be the dilute solution of the chloride of lime. If 
the teats are washed with this before the cow is milked, it will go 
far toward preventing the communication of the disease. 

The most interesting circumstance connected with this pustular 
eruption is, that the persons on whom it appeared were, for a con- 
siderable period, (it was once thought, during life,) protected from 
the small-pox. This was known among farmers from time immemo- 
rial. But to no one, whom experience had convinced of the active 
protective power of the cow-pox, had it occurred to endeavor to as- 
certain whether it might not be possible to propagate the affection 
by innoculation from one human being to another, and thus communi- 
cate security against small-pox at will. 

To the mind of Mr. Jenner, the probability of accomplishing this 
first presented itself. He innoculated a boy with the matter taken 



COW-POX. 421 



from the hands of a milkmaid who had been infected The disease 
was communicated, and with it the immunity which he expected. 
He multiplied his experiments, and was successful in all of them ; 
and, at length, established the power of vaccination, and proved him- 
self to be one of the greatest benefactors to the human race that 
ever lived. Some practitioners of no little eminence have recom- 
mended (and perhaps it deserves more consideration than has been 
given to it} a return to the primary fountain for a recruit of power 
and energy, after the lapse of a certain period and the prosecution of 
a certain number of successive experiments. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GENERAL DISEASES AND MANAGEMENT OF CALVES. 

In whatever manner the calf is afterwards to be reared, it should 
remain with the mother for a few days after it is dropped, and until 
the milk can be used in the dairy. The little animal will thus derive 
the benefit of the first milk, that to which nature has given an ape- 
rient property, in order that the black and glutinous faeces that had 
been accumulating in the intestines during the latter months of the 
fcetal state, might be carried off. The farmer acts wrongly when he 
throws away, as he is too much in the habit of doing, the beastings, 
or first milk of the cow. 

NAVEL-ILL. 

The calf being cleaned, and having begun to suck, the navel-string 
should be examined. Perhaps it may continue slowly to bleed. In 
this case a ligature should be passed round it closer, but, if it can be 
avoided, not quite close to the belly. Possibly the spot at which the 
division of the cord took place may be more than usually sore. A 
pledget of tow well wetted with Friar's balsam should be placed 
over it, confined with a bandage, and changed every morning and 
night, but the caustic applications, that are so frequently resorted to, 
should be avoided. 

Sometimes, when there has been previous bleeding, and especially 
if the caustic has been used to arrest the haemorrhage, and at other 
times, when all things have seemed to have been going on well, inflam- 
mation suddenly appears about the navel, between the third and 
eighth or tenth day. There is a little swelling of the part, but with 
more redness and tenderness than such a degree of enlargement 
would indicate. Although there may be nothing in the first appear- 
ance of this to excite alarm, the navel-ill is a far more serious business 
than some imagine. Fomentation of the part in order to disperse the 
tumor, the opening of it witli a lancet if it evidently points, and the 
administration of two or three two-ounce doses of castor oil, made 
into an emulsion by means of an egg, will constitute the first treat- 
ment ; but if, when the inflammation abates, extreme weakness should 
come on, as is too often the case, gentian and laudanum, with, per- 
haps, a small quantity of port wine, should be administered. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — In inflammation give some doses of aeon- 



CONSTIPATION. 423 



itum ; and then arnica, and wash the parts with arnica water ; and 
if there be weakness, give china to combat it. 

CONSTIPATION. 

If the first milk, or beastings, has been taken from the calf, and 
constipation, from that, or from any other cause, succeeds, an aperient 
should be administered without delay. The sticky black faeces, with 
which the bowels of the newly-born calf are often loaded, must be 
got rid of. Castor oil is the safest and the most effectual aperient 
for so young an animal. It should be given, mixed up with the yolk 
of an egg, or in thick gruel, in doses of two or three ounces ; and 
even at this early age, the carminative which forms so usual and 
indispensable an ingredient in the physic of cattle must not be omitted : 
a scruple of ginger should be added to the oil. 

Constipation of another kind may be prevented, but rarely cured. 
If the weather will permit, and the cow is turned out during the day, 
and the calf with her, the young one may suck as often and as much 
as it pleases — the exercise which it takes with its mother, and the 
small quantity of green meat which it soon begins to crop, will keep 
it healthy ; but if it be under shelter with its dam, and lies quiet and 
sleepy the greater part of the day, some restraint must be put upon 
it. It must be tied in a corner of the hovel, and not permitted to 
suck more than three times during the day, otherwise it will take 
more milk than its weak digestive powers will be able to dispose of, 
and which will coagulate, and form a hardened mass, and fill the 
stomach and destroy the animal. The quantity of this hardened curd 
which has sometimes been taken from the fourth stomach almost 
exceeds belief. This is particularly the case when a foster-mother, 
that probably had calved several weeks before, is given to the little 
one, or the calf has too early been fed with the common milk of the 
dairy. The only chance of success in this disease lies in the frequent 
administration (by means of the stomach-pump, or the drink poured 
gently down from a small horn) of plenty of warm water, two ounces 
of Epsom salt being dissolved in the quantity used at each adminis- 
tration. 

At a later period, the calf is sometimes suffered to feed too plenti- 
fully on hay, before the manyplus has acquired sufficient power to 
grind down the fibrous portions of it. This will be indicated by dull- 
ness, fever, enlargement of the belly, and the cessation of rumination, 
but no expression of extreme pain. The course pursued must be the 
same. The manyplus must be emptied, either by washing it out, by 
the frequent passage of warm water through it, or by stimulating it 
to greater action, through the means of the sympathetic influence of 
a purgative on the fourth stomach and the intestinal canal. 

A tendency to costiveness in a calf should be obviated as speedily 
as possible — it is inconsistent with the natural and profitable thriving 



424 CATTLE. 

of the animal, and it can never long exist without inducing a degree 
of fever, always dangerous, and generally fatal. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The more or less inflammatory state 
which generally accompanies it, requires that we commence the 
treatment with a dose of aconitum. The most effectual means then 
is nux vomica ; it is indicated chiefly, when the evacuations from the 
bowels are scanty, hard, covered with mucus, and when the animal 
frequently draws up the belly. If there be no thirst, we should have 
recourse to china and bryonia. The latter remedy is also suitable 
when the constipation has been produced by cold, a circumstance in 
which it frequently alternates with diarrhoea. Opium and argila 
must be employed when the inactive state of the intestinal tube allows 
nothing to escape from the body, and the animal remains lying down, 
though evincing no pain. In very obstinate constipation, where the 
rectum is empty, and also where only a small quantity of matter 
escapes, which is not very hard, plumbum never fails to be effectual. 

DIARRHC3A. 

The disease, however, to which calves are most liable, and which 
is most fatal to them, is purging. It arises from various causes : the 
milk of the mother may not agree with the young one ; it may be of 
too poor a nature, and then it produces that disposition to acidity, 
which is so easily excited in the fourth stomach and the intestines of 
the calf; or, on the other hand, it may be too old and rich, and the 
stomach, weakened by the attempt to convert it into healthy chyle, 
secretes or permits the development of an acid fluid. It is the result 
of starvation and of excess — it is the almost necessary consequence of 
a sudden change of diet ; in fact, it is occasionally produced by every 
thing that deranges the process of healthy digestion. 

The farmer needs not to be alarmed although the faeces should 
become thin, and continue so during two or three days, if the animal 
is as lively as usual, and feeds as he was wont ; but if he begins to 
droop, if he refuses his food, if rumination ceases, and he is in evident 
pain, and mucus, and perhaps blood, begin to mingle with the dung, 
and that is far more fetid than in its natural state, not an hour should 
be lost. The proper treatment has already been described under the 
titles of diarrhoea and dysentery, pp. 338, 339. A mild purgative 
(two ounces of castor oil, or three of Epsom salt) should first be 
administered, to carry away the cause of the disturbed state of the 
bowels. To this should follow anodyne and astringent and alkaline 
medicines, with a mild carminative. The whole will consist of opium, 
catechu, chalk, and ginger. The proportions of each have already 
been given in p. 339, when describing the treatment of diarrhoea. 
The use of this mixture should be accompanied by frequent drenching 
with starch or thick gruel ; by the removal of green or acescent food, 
and by giving bran mashes, with a little pea or bean flour. 



HOOSE. 423 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The cure of diarrhoea is effected by 
different means. In the diarrhoea which bursts out suddenly, or the 
acute form, we should commence with a couple of doses of aconitum 
at short intervals ; after which, in most cases, arsenicum and ipeca- 
cuanha are very effectual. The diarrhoea brought on by cold often 
yields to aconitum alone, as that resulting from any irregularity in 
diet yields to arsenic. If in the latter case there be also loss of 
appetite, and if arsenic does not effect a cure, Pulsatilla should be 
given, or when there is an absolute repugnance to food, antimonium 
crudum, especially when the diarrhoea alternates periodically with 
constipation. If there be frequent dejections without pain, we have 
recourse to rheum. Asarum is useful, if the evacuations are fluid, 
and sometimes mixed with bloody mucus. 

In the treatment of chronic diarrhoea, besides china, sulphur, cha- 
momilla, and veratrum, which has been found useful more than once, 
we should employ acidum phosphoricum, bryonia, calcarea acetica, 
dulcamara, magnesia carbonica, petroleum, and phosphorus. Diarrhoea 
is usually accompanied with a general morbid state, with respect to 
which we are to choose, among these several means, that which suits 
best. Sulphur and arsenicum are the principal remedies for diarrhoea 
in calves. 

When slight, dysentery resembles severe diarrhoea, and requires 
the remedies which have been indicated under the head of the latter 
disease. 

In calves, diarrhoea, accompanied with emaciation and loss of appe- 
tite, very often puts on the dysenteric character ; the animal every 
moment passes liquid matter of a greenish or yellowish color. In such 
case, Pulsatilla is a specific. Benefit has also been obtained from 
chamomilla, and, when the evacuations were white, from mercurius 



A sufficiently alarming view has been given of this disease in adult 
cattle, but calves are even more subject to it ; it takes on in them a 
more dangerous character, and more speedily terminates in wasting 
and in death. Hoose often assumes an epidemic form in cattle of a 
twelvemonth old and upward ; it often appears as an epidemic among 
calves, and carries off great numbers of them. The treatment recom- 
mended for grown cattle under the article Hoose, in p. 248, &c, 
should, with such deviation as the different age and situation of the 
beast require, be adopted here. The bleeding, perhaps, should not 
be carried to so great an extent, and even somewhat more attention 
should be paid to the comfort of the animal. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — That which is at first dull and hollow, 
excited by the least effort, and more particularly violent after the 
animal has drunk, generally indicates a more or less serious affection 



426 CATTLE. 

of the lung. The means to be adopted when no other symptoms of 
disease are observed, are : dulcamara, in cough by cold ; bryonia (in 
repeated doses,) in inveterate cough ; Belladonna and drosera, in 
chronic cough ; hyoscyamus when the attacks are very frequent ; 
squilla, in cough which comes on after fatigue, and which interferes 
with the respiration ; Ohamomilla, in dry cough, with diarrhoea ; 
Pulsatilla, in frequent attacks of dry cough, with loss of appetite ; 
spiritus sulpkuratis in very obstinate cough. When the cough is the 
symptom of another disease, it yields to the treatment required by 
the latter. 

CASTRATION. 

The period pretty generally selected is between the first and third 
months. The nearer it is to the expiration of the first month, the 
less danger attends the operation. 

Some persons prepare the animals by the administration of a dose 
of physic ; but others proceed at once to the operation when it best 
suits their convenience, or that of the farmer. Care, however, should 
be taken that the young animal is in perfect health. The mode 
formerly practised was simple enough : — a piece of whipcord was tied 
as tightly as possible round the scrotum. The supply of blood being 
thus completely cut off, the bag and its contents soon became livid 
and dead, and were suffered to hang, by some careless operators, 
until they dropped off, or were cut off on the second or third day. 

It is now, however, the general practice to grasp the scrotum in the 
hand, between the testicles and the belly, and to make an incision on 
one side of it, near the bottom, of sufficient depth to penetrate through 
the inner covering of the testicle, and long enough to admit of its 
escape. The testicle immediately bursts from its bag, and is seen 
hanging by its cord. 

The careless or brutal operator now firmly ties a piece of small 
string round the cord, and having thus stopped the circulation, cuts 
through the cord half an inch below the ligature, and removes the 
testicle. He, however, who has any feeling for the poor animal on 
which he is operating, considers that the only use of the ligature is to 
compress the blood-vessels and prevent after-hemorrhage, and there- 
fore saves a great deal of unnecessary torture, by including them 
alone in the ligature, and afterwards dividing the rest of the cord. 
The other testicle is proceeded with in the same way, and the opera- 
tion is complete. The length of the cord should be so contrived that 
it shall immediately retract into the scrotum, but not higher, while 
the ends of the string: hano- out through the wounds. In the course 

O O O 

of about a week the strings will usually drop off, and the wounds 
will speedily heal. It will be rarely that any application to the 
scrotum will be necessary, except fomentation of it, if much swelling 
should ensue. 



CASTRATION. 427 



A few, but their practice cannot be justified, seize the testicle as 
soon as it escapes from the bag, and, pulling violently, break the 
cord and tear it out. It is certain that when a blood-vessel is thus 
ruptured, it forcibly contracts, and very little bleeding follows ; but 
if the cord breaks high up and retracts into the belly, considerable 
inflammation has occasionally ensued, and the beast has been lost. 

The application of torsion, or the twisting of the arteries by means 
of a pair of forceps which will firmly grasp them, promises to su- 
persede every other mode of castration, both in the larger and the 
smaller domesticated animals. The spermatic artery is exposed, and 
seized with the forceps, which are then closed by a very simple me- 
chanical contrivance ; the vessel is drawn a little out from its sur- 
rounding tissue, the forceps are turned round seven or eight times, 
and the vessel liberated. It will be found perfectly closed ; a small 
knot will have formed on its extremity ; it will retract into the sur- 
rounding substance, and not a drop more of blood will flow from it : 
the cord may then be divided, and the bleeding from any little 
vessel arrested in the same way. Neither the application of the hot 
iron nor of the wooden clamps, whether with or without caustic, can 
be necessary in the castration of the calf. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — After the operation, give some doses of 
arnica, and wash the parts with arnica water. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

DISEASES OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM AND OF 
THE EXTREMITIES. 

RHEUMATISM. 

It is inflammation of the fascia, or cellular coat of the muscles, and 
also of the ligaments and synovial membranes of the joints. If a 
cow has been exposed to unusual cold and wet, particularly after 
calving, or too soon after recovery from serious illness, she will often 
be perceived to droop. She becomes listless, unwilling to move, 
and by degrees gets off her feed. If urged to move, there is a 
marked stiffness in her action, at first referable chiefly, or almost 
entirely, to the spine ; and she walks as if all the articulations of the 
back and loins had lost their power of motion. She shrinks when 
pressed on the loins ; and the stiffness gradually spreads to the fore 
or hind limbs. The farmer calls it chine fellon ; if it gets a little 
worse, it acquires the name of joint fellon, and worse, unless care is 
taken, it speedily will become. Some of the joints swell ; they are 
hot and tender ; the animal can scarcely bend them ; and she cannot 
move without difficulty and evident pain. 

We find rheumatism in cattle chiefly prevalent in a cold, marshy 
country — in places exposed to the coldest winds — in spring and in 
autumn, when there is the greatest vicissitude of heat and cold — in 
animals that have been debilitated by insufficient diet, and that can- 
not withstand the influence of sudden changes of temperature — in 
old cattle particularly, and such as have been worked hard, and then 
turned out into the cold air, with the perspiration still hanging about 
them. 

It seems to assume the acute and the chronic form. One animal 
will labor under considerable fever ; he will scarcely be able to move 
at all, or when he does, it extorts from him an expression of suffer- 
ing. Another seems to be gay and well, when the air is warm and 
dry ; but as soon as the wind shifts, or immediately before it changes, 
he is uneasy and comparatively helpless. On some portions of a 
farm, nothing seems to ail the cattle ; on others, lower, moister, or 
more exposed, the cattle crawl about stiffly and in pain. In some 



SWELLING OF THE JOINTS. 429 

extreme cases, the quantity of milk rapidly diminishes, and the cow 
wastes away, and becomes a mere skeleton. 

Rheumatism in cattle may be palliated, but rarely removed. The 
treatment of it consists in making the animal comfortable — in shel- 
tering her from the causes of the complaint — in giving her a warm 
aperient, which, while it acts upon the bowels, may determine to 
the skin, as sulphur, with the full quantity of ginger. The prac- 
titioner will afterwards give that which will yet more determine to 
the skin, as antimonial powder, combined with an anodyne medicine, 
almost any preparation of opium ; — and he will have recourse to an 
embrocation stimulating to the skin, and thus probably relieving the 
deeper seated pain, as camphoretted oil, or spirit of turpentine and 
laudanum. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — The most effectual remedy is aconitum, 
followed by arsenicum. Bryonia is good when the feet are paralyzed. 
Arsenicum is indicated when the animal is observed to walk with the 
greatest precaution, when he trembles after drinking cold water, 
and the disease has been brought on by cold drinks, or an excess of 
food. Rhus toxicodendron should be prescribed when the disease 
results from too much fatigue. Chamomilla restores the milk secre- 
tion, after the other ailments have been removed. 

SWELLINGS OF THE JOINTS. 

These are usually the consequence of rheumatism. Small tumors 
appear in the neighborhood of the joints that were most affected. 
They seem at first to belong to the muscles ; but they increase : they 
involve the tendons of the muscles, and then the ligaments of the 
joints, and the lining membrane of the joints. When this is the case, 
other diseases are at hand — inflammation of the lungs or bowels ; 
but, oftenest of all, rheumatism degenerates into palsy. 

The superficial veins in the neighborhood of the joints sometimes 
become full and large ; they grow decidedly varicose. When the 
causes of rheumatism are removed, the situation of the animal 
changed, and the weather has become more congenial, the lameness 
decreases, the swellings diminish, but the varicose veins remain. 

The enlargements of the joints connected with or the consequences 
of rheumatism are removed — but in the majority of cases only tempo- 
rarily — by stimulating embrocations, of which spirit of turpentine or 
the compound one of turpentine, ammonia, camphoretted spirit, and 
laudanum, is the most effectual. Some, however, will not disappear 
without the application of the cautery. 

There are other tumors about the joints, and particularly the knees 
of cattle, which are not necessarily connected with rheumatism, and 
in many cases quite independent of it, although they are found only 
in beasts that are out at pasture. They are of two kinds. The first 
occupies the fore-part of the knee, and generally one knee at a time. 



430 CATTLE. 

A fluid collects in the tissue immediately beneath the skin, and which 
yields to the pressure of the finger. The pressure causes no pain, 
nor is there any inflammation of the skin, but there is some degree 
of lameness. The tumors insensibly increase ; they still contain a 
fluid. Inflammation is now sufficiently evident : the lameness is very 
great ; and the motion of the joint is almost destroyed. 

Frictions with turpentine and hartshorn are often employed : some- 
times one composed of tincture of cantharides is used. These occa- 
sionally disperse the tumors for a while, but they speedily reappear. 
The hot iron is a more effectual remedy. If the tumor be pierced 
with it, a glairy fluid escapes, and the swelling subsides. A blister 
should then be applied, and the animal kept in the cow-house. The 
tumor does not often return, but it is a considerable time before the 
lameness quite disappears. 

A more frequent species of tumor is of a hard character. It does 
not yield at all to pressure ; it evidently causes considerable pain, 
and the animal is very lame. These tumors are almost invariably 
confined to one knee. Here, neither frictions nor perforation with 
the hot iron will be of material benefit, although deep firing has 
sometimes succeeded. 

Other tumors, sometimes immediately on the joints, and at other 
times at a greater or less distance from them, and of variable degrees 
of hardness ; sometimes adhering to and identified with the substance 
beneath, and at other times more or less pendulous, do not appear 
to give much pain to the animal, nor do they often interfere with the 
motion of the joints, but they are a great eyesore, and, in a few in- 
stances, they suddenly take on a disposition to increase with great 
rapidity. These have been blistered without effect — setons have 
been passed through them with variable result, and occasionally re- 
course has been had to excision. 

The ointment of the hydriodate of potash should be well rubbed 
into the tumors and the neighboring parts ; and the hydriodate at 
the same time be administered internally. The success of this treat- 
ment with the two last species of tumors has been almost as great 
as the practitioner could desire. They have uniformly very much di- 
minished in size, and in the great majority of cases they have dis- 
appeared. The ointment should be composed as already recom- 
mended, and six grains of the hydriodate given morning and night in 
a mash. On the first species of tumor unconnected with rheumatism, 
the iodine has seldom had decided effect. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Tumors vary much with respect to their 
constitution and the region of the body where they make their ap- 
pearance. Those arising from an external cause, are, for the most 
part, hot, at least at the commencement ; these are to be treated 
with arnica (internally and externally), which is to be followed by 
arsenicum, or, when there is pain, by conium. Those which depend 



OPENED JOINTS. 431 



on internal causes, require bryonia, chiefly in cases of cold, or china 
and arsenicum alternately, or sulphur, or mercurius vivus. 

Aurum and belladonna are the principal remedies for tumors on 
the head ; baryta carbonica for those on the lower jaw. With respect 
to tumors on the chest, aconitum and bryonia are suitable, if they 
are owing to cold ; arnica, if they are the consequence of compres- 
sion. When they are covered with scabs, thuja should be given, and, 
after some days, sulphur. 

ULCERS ABOUT THE JOINTS. 

These tumors sometimes assume very much the appearance of 
farcy in the horse. They run in lines, they follow the apparent course 
of the veins, but they belong to the absorbents. They frequently 
ulcerate — the wounds are painful, deep, and spreading. 

The dilute solution of the chloride of lime will form the best 
application, and will usually be successful ; especially if occasionally 
aided by some caustic wash, as a solution of blue vitriol, or dilute 
nitric acid. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — In ulcers which suppurate, the principal 
means are : arsenicum, internally and externally, if the edges are 
painful, everted, inflamed, with unhealthy pus ; silicea, if the pus is 
thick and of a bad color ; chamomilla, sepia, and antimonium, when 
proud flesh becomes developed on it. Pulsatilla possesses specific 
virtues in the case of fistulous ulcers. The following substances as 
intercurrent remedies : ledum palustre, when the fistulee have an 
opening sufficiently large, and the bottom is white and lardaceous ; 
calcarea carbonica, a capital remedy in all forms of fistulee ; lycopo- 
dium, when the orifice is small and there are numerous burrows ; 
these remedies are interposed when the repeated doses of pulsatilla 
no longer bring about improvement, and about four days after we 
should recur to the latter. Occasionally it is necessary to employ, in 
addition, several intercurrent remedies. 

OPENED JOINTS. 

These sometimes occur from the injudicious lancing of the first 
kind of tumor, but oftener from accident. The principle of the treat- 
ment of open joints is to close the orifice as soon as possible, and be- 
fore the secretion of the joint oil is stopped, and the cartilages of the 
opposing bones rub on each other, and the delicate membrane which 
lines these cartilages becomes inflamed, and the animal suffers ex- 
treme torture, and a degree of fever ensues by which he is speedily 
destroyed. The Avound is best closed by means of the firing iron. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Wounds of small extent are cured in a 
very little time by the use of arnica externally. In such as are 
deeper, arnica must be administered internally also. Symphytum is 
useful whenever there has been any lesion of the bones or peri- 



432 CATTLE. 

osteum. Conium should be employed in the case of wounds result- 
ing from compression or contusion ; and in the case of those which 
are accompanied with luxation, rhus toxicodendron alternately with 
arnica. When a wound has occasioned great loss of blood, china is 
useful to combat the debility caused by the haemorrhage. The fever, 
which is generally associated with wounds of a certain extent, yields 
to arnica and aconitum, employed alternately. Extensive wounds 
are never cured without suppuration ; this is generally set up five or 
six days after the injury ; and as long as it wears a healthy character, 
art should not interfere ; but if the pus be turbid and have a bad 
smell, asafcetida and mercurius vivus should be employed ; if it be 
thick and have a bad color, silicea ; if proud-flesh make its appear- 
ance, chamomilla, sepia, and arsenicum. 

SPRAINS. 

Working oxen, and those that have been driven long journeys, are 
liable to sprain, and particularly of the fetlock joint. The division 
of the lower part of the cannon or shank-bone, in order that it may 
articulate with the two pasterns into which the leg is divided, renders 
this joint particularly weak and susceptible of injury. The treat- 
ment consists of fomentation of the part, to which should succeed 
bandages very gradually increasing in tightness, cold lotions, and 
afterwards, if the deep-seated inflammation cannot otherwise be sub- 
dued, stimulating applications, blistering, or, as the last resource, 
firing. The inflammation attending sprain of this joint is often very 
great, and enormous bony enlargement and anchylosis are not unfre- 
quently seen. They embrace the fetlock -joint ; they frequently 
include the pastern : but oftener, the inflammation and bony enlarge- 
ment extend up the leg, and particularly the posterior part of it, 
almost to knee ; for the division of the flexor tendons, in order to 
reach both toes, takes place considerably above the fetlock (the pre- 
cise place varying in different animals), and these, from the oblique 
direction which they take, are peculiarly liable to strain, with proba- 
bility of serious injury. The firing iron must be severely applied 
before the mischief has proceeded to this extent. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — A sprain, when the result of a false step, 
brings on lameness more or less perceptible, and, when it is severe, a 
hot tumefaction in the neighborhood of the joint. The accident, 
when of recent date, promptly yields to arnica, employed both in- 
ternally and externally. Otherwise, or if there be much pain from 
the commencement, as also much swelling and lameness, rhus toxi- 
codendron, and especially rutn, should be administered, which latter 
remedy in such cases possesses specific virtues. 

DISEASES OF THE FEET. 

These are numerous and serious. The leg of the ox is divided at 



FOUL IN THK FOOT. 433 



the fetlock. There are two sets of pasterns, two coffin-bones, and 
two hoofs to each leg. The shank-bone is double in the foetus, but 
the cartilaginous substance between the two larger metacarpals is 
afterwards absorbed, and they become one bone ; the lower bones, 
however, continue separate. Each division has its own ligaments 
and tendons, and is covered by its own integument. This gives rise 
to various inflammations and lamenesses, which have been confounded 
under the very objectionable term of 

FOUL IN THE FOOT. 

Hard and irritating substances often insinuate themselves between 
the claws, and, becoming fixed there, and wounding the claws on one 
or both sides, become a source of great annoyance, pain, and inflam- 
mation, and the beast suddenly becomes lame, and the pasterns are 
much swelled. They should be carefully examined, the interposed 
substance should be removed, the wound washed thoroughly clean, 
and a pledget of tow, dipped in Friar's balsam, or covered with heal- 
ing ointment, introduced between the claws, and there confined by 
means of a roller. Lameness from this cause will, in general, be 
readily removed. 

The foot being thus divided, and the ox unexpectedly treading on 
an uneven surface, or being compelled long to do so when ploughing 
a steep field, the weight of the animal will be unequally distributed 
on the pasterns, and severe sprain will be the result. This is indi- 
cated by the sudden lameness which comes on, and by the swelling, 
and heat, and tenderness being confined to one claw, and referable to 
the fetlock or pastern, or coffin-joints. Rest and fomentation, or the 
application of cold, with bleeding from the veins of the coronet, will 
usually remove this kind of lameness. The bleeding may be easily 
effected by means of a small fleam or lancet, for the veins of the 
foot of the ox are large and tortuous, and rise distinctly above the 
coronet, and climb up the pastern. It is the increased vascularity 
which often gives so serious a character to sprains of the coffin or 
pastern-joints in the ox, and disposes to stiffness of these joints. 

The foot of the ox, or that part which is enclosed within the horny 
box, is liable to the same injuries and diseases as that of the horse ; 
but they generally are not so difficult to treat, nor do they produce 
such destructive consequences, because the weight of the animal 
being divided between the two claws, the first concussion or injury 
is not so great, and the animal is able afterwards to spare the injured 
claw, by throwing a considerable portion or the whole of the weight 
on the sound one. Injuries of the feet arise from pricking in shoeing, 
wounds from nails or rjlass, or from the sole beinsf bruised, and some- 
times the horn being worn almost through, by travelling or working 
on hard roads. 

19 



434 ' CATTLE. 

It is generally believed that there is a constitutional tendency to 
diseases of the foot in cattle, resembling the rot in sheep ; but this 
has never been satisfactorily proved, and the simplest explanation of 
the matter is, that inflammation was produced by some external 
cause ; that it ran its usual course ; that suppuration followed, and 
matter was formed ; that it burrowed in various parts of the foot, 
and broke out at the coronet ; that sinuses remained ; that the ulcer 
took on an unhealthy character ; fungus shooted up ; in short, there 
was quitter or canker. This is a simple view of the case, and at 
once points out a mode of treatment, intelligible and generally 
successful. 

It is true that foul in the foot is most prevalent in low marshy 
countries ; but the hoof is there softened, macerated by its continual 
immersion in moisture, and rendered unable to resist the accidents to 
which it is occasionally exposed. 

When a beast becomes suddenly lame, he should be taken up, 
and, if necessary, secured. The lameness will generally be referable 
to one claw. The heat, and tenderness, and redness, and enlarge- 
ment round the coronet will prove this. The foot should be carefully 
examined : is there any prick or wound about the sole ? if so, let 
the horn be pared away there — let the matter which is pent up 
within escape — let the horn be removed as far as it has separated 
from the sensible parts beneath — let a little butyr of antimony be 
applied over the denuded part — let a pledget of soft dry tow be 
bound tightly upon the part, and let the animal be placed in a dry 
yard or cow-house. 

If there be no evident wound, let the foot of the beast be tried 
round with the pincers ; and if he decidedly flinches when pressed 
on a particular part, let the foot be opened there — let the coronet 
be closely examined : is there any soft reddish shot upon it ? if so, 
freely plunge the lancet into it. 

If the examiner be foiled in this attempt to discover the seat of 
mischief, let him envelop the foot in a poultice ; that will soften the 
parts, and cause even the horn to be a little more yielding, and will 
abate the inflammation ; if it should be pure inflammation without 
previous mechanical injury, that will hasten the process of suppura- 
tion, and the matter will more quickly, and with less destruction to 
the neighboring parts, find its way to the coronet. As soon as it 
does so, the soft projecting red or black spot should be opened, and 
a probo should be introduced into the opening and the sinuses care- 
fully ascertained, and every portion of detached horn removed from 
above them, and the healthy horn around thinned and smoothed. 
It will always in these cases be prudent to administer a dose of 
Epsom salts. 

The character of the surface exposed should now be considered. 
If, the matter having been all evacuated, the wound or wounds have 



FOUL IN THE FOOT. 435 



a tolerably healthy appearance, a light application of the butyr of 
antimony, and that repeated daily, will soon induce a secretion of 
new horn ; but if there be a portion of the surface that looks black or 
spongy, or the edges of which are separated from the parts around, 
here was, probably, the original seat of injury — the life of that portion 
has been destroyed and it must be removed — it must slough out. A 
poultice of linseed meal, with a fourth part of common turpentine, 
must be put on, changed twice in the day, and continued until the 
suppuration is complete. A light application of the butyr should then 
follow, or, in favorable cases, a pledget soaked in Friar's balsam should 
be placed on the wound, bound tightly down, and daily renewed ; 
the removal of every portion of detached horn, dryness, firm but 
equable pressure on the part, and moderate stimulus of the exposed 
surface, are the principles which will carry the practitioner success- 
fully through every case of foul in the foot. 

Nothing has been said of the fungous excrescence between the 
claws, in order to remove which, as well as to stimulate the surface 
beneath and dispose it to throw out healthy horn, the cart-rope or 
the horse-hair line used to be introduced between the claws, and 
drawn backward and forward, inflicting sad and unnecessary torture 
on the animal. This fungus will rarely make its appearance, if the 
horn, which had lost its attachment to the living surface beneath, yet 
still continued to press upon it, has been carefully removed. If any 
fungus appear, it should be levelled by means of a sharp knife, and 
the caustic applied. There can be no doubt that pure inflammation, 
without wound or mechanical injury, does sometimes attack the feet 
of cattle, especially of those that are in high condition. On one day 
the beast is perfectly free from lameness, or illness of any kind ; on 
the following day probably the foot is swelled, the claws stand apart 
from each other, they are unusually hot, and the animal can scarcely 
rest any portion of his weight on one foot ; he is continually shifting 
his posture, or he lies down and cannot be induced to rise. If the 
beast be neglected, the inflammation and swelling increase until an 
ulcer appears at the division of the claws, and which cannot be healed 
until a considerable core has sloughed out. 

A linseed-meal poultice should be applied to the part as soon as 
this inflammation is observed, and it may be easily retained in its 
situation by means of a cloth through which two holes have been cut 
to admit the claws. This will either abate the inflammation or has- 
ten the suppuration ; and as soon as the swelling begins to point, it 
should be opened. The poultice must be continued until this slough- 
ing process has taken place, or the ulcer begins to have a healthy 
surface, a little common turpentine having been added to it. Proud 
flesh must be subdued, by the caustic ; equal parts of verdigris and 
sugar of lead will constitute the best application for this purpose. 
Foul and fetid discharge must be corrected by the chloride of lime ; 



436 CATTLE. 

and when the ulcer looks healthy, the tincture of myrrh or Friar's 
balsam must be used. 

By this mode of treatment, the disease will readily be subdued, 
but the application of corroding caustic substances in the early 
stage of it will add fuel to fire ; and the suffering the abscess to re- 
main unopen until the pus has burst its way through the thick skin 
of the leg will produce sinuses that will run in every direction, re- 
main open month after month, and leave permanent lameness be- 
hind. Some have imagined that this variety of foul in the foot is 
contagious. That is not quite ascertained, although there are some 
suspicious cases on record ; the farmer, therefore, will act prudently, 
who immediately separates the lame beast from the herd. 

In one respect, these diseases of the feet of cattle differ materi- 
ally from quitter or canker in the horse. There is a laminated con- 
nection between the hoof of the ox and the sensible parts beneath, 
as in the horse ; but the horn}' plates of the hoof and the fleshy 
ones of the substance which covers the coffin-bone are not so wide 
or so deep, and therefore the attachment between the hoof and the 
foot is not so strong. Thence it happens that the matter finds great 
difficulty in forcing a way for itself in the foot of the horse, and 
deep sinuses are formed, which reach to, and corrode the bone, and 
there is sometimes core upon core to be detached, and portions of 
bone to be thrown off, and whence results the cankered state of the 
foot, and the difficulty of cure. In cattle, less resistance to the pro- 
gress of the matter is experienced ; the hoof is more easily separated 
from the parts beneath, and that which would produce deep ulcera- 
tion and caries in the one, rarely to be perfectly repaired, leads to 
the casting of the hoof in the other, while the foot has received 
comparatively little injury. The form of the foot, in these cases, is 
much changed, and all its functions impaired in the one ; in the 
other a new hoof speedily covers a foot that has escaped all serious 
detriment, and the animal becomes as useful as he ever was. Cases, 
however, do sometimes occur, in which the hoof is lengthened and 
curved, and twisted in a very curious way, and the coffin-bone takes 
on a similar distortion. 

There is no frog in the foot of cattle, nor are there the provisions 
for the expansion and elasticity of the foot which we admire in the 
horse ; therefore there is not any disease that can be considered as 
corresponding with the " thrush " in that animal, but there is occa- 
sionally something not much unlike grease. A sore appears upon 
the heel, not, however, so much in the form of a crack as of a circu- 
lar superficial ulcer. It has a brown, unhealthy hue ; fungus often 
springs from it, and it causes considerable lameness. It is best 
treated with the chloride of lime, or that and a strong solution of 
alum may be alternately applied. A bandage should seldom be 
used, because it can scarcely be put on without excoriating the 



FOUL IN THE FOOT. 437 



parts and increasing the evil, and because the ox is much more im- 
patient of the restraint of the bandage than is the most fidgety or 
vicious horse. 

Constant pain seems to prey speedily and injuriously on cattle. 
They have not the courage and endurance of resistance, and there- 
fore it is that these diseases of the feet soon begin very materially 
to interfere with the condition of the beast. These things would 
indicate the propriety of having recourse to the operation of neurot- 
omy. It is an operation which, resorted to in proper cases, will 
often be practised to relieve the torture, and to improve the condi- 
tion of ruminants. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — Acidum phosphoricum is an excellent 
remedy in most cases. Others have yielded to the efficacy of sul- 
phur, and of carbon vegetabilis, preceded by a few doses of nux 
vomica. Lux recommends the bupodopurinum as specific. Mercti- 
rius solubilis has often rendered great service in diseased feet. At 
the onset of the disease, when there is yet only a difficulty of walk- 
ing, and some sensibility of the sole, arnica (internally and exter- 
nally) and arsenicum may suffice for effecting a cure ; however, even 
under such circumstances, acidum phosphoricum has succeeded more 
than once, so that it may be considered as the most useful. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 

Graziers know that the beast whose skin is not soft, and mellow, 
and elastic, can never carry any profitable quantity of flesh and fat ; 
therefore they judge of the value of the animal even more by the 
handling than they do by the conformation of parts. 

The skin is filled with innumerable little glands, which pour out an 
o\\y fluid, that softens and supplies it, so that we can easily take it 
between the finger and thumb, and raise it from the parts beneath ; 
and while we are doing this, we are sensible of its peculiar mellow- 
ness and elasticity. At another time, or in another animal, the skin 
seems to cling to the muscles beneath, and feels harsh and rough 
when we handle it ; but the skin is not altered or diseased ; it is this 
secretion of oily fluid that is suspended. We attach the idea of 
health to the mellow skin, and of disease to the harsh and immova- 
ble one, because the experience of ourselves and of everybody else 
has confirmed this connection, and the principle is, that when one 
secretion is properly discharged the others will generally be so, and 
when one is interrupted the harmony of the system is too much 
disturbed for the animal to thrive or to be in vigor. 

Then, as a symptom of a diseased state of the constitution gene- 
rally, the attention is first directed to 

HIDE-BOUND. 

The term is very expressive — the hide seems to be bound, or to 
cling to the muscles and bones. It does not actually do so, but it 
has lost its softness, and we can no longer raise it, or move it about. 
The secretion of the oily fluid which supplies the skin is disturbed ; 
this argues disturbance elsewhere, and the feeling of the skin usually 
indicates the degree of that disturbance. 

With hide-bound is connected a rough and staring coat. The sur- 
face of the skin is hard and dry ; the minute scales with which it is 
covered no longer yield to the hair, but separating themselves in 
every direction, they turn it in various ways, and so give to it that 
irregular and ragged appearance which is one of the characteristics 
of want of condition. 



MANGE. 439 

These two circumstances — hide-bound and a staring coat — are 
unerring indications of evil. A cow may be somewhat off her feed 
— she may hoose a little — she may have various little ailments ; they 
should not be neglected ; but while the skin is loose, and the hair 
lies smooth, the farmer has not much to fear ; if, however, the coat 
begin to stare, and the skin to cling to the ribs, it behooves him to 
examine into the matter. 

If the unthrifty appearance cannot be traced to any evident cause, 
still there can be no doubt that something is wrong. Hide-bound 
is rarely a primary disease ; it is a symptom of disease, and oftener 
of disease of the digestive organs than of any other. A dose of 
physic should be given (eight ounces of sulphur, with half an ounce 
of ginger,) and a few mashes should be allowed. After this, medi- 
cines should be administered that have a tendency to rouse the ves- 
sels of the skin to their due action, as sulphur, nitre, and antimonial 
powder, with a small quantity of ginger. No direct tonic should be 
administered while the cause of this want of condition is unknown, 
but warm purgatives and diaphoretic medicines will often have a 
good effect. 



This is the most serious among the diseases of the skin in cattle. 
The first symptom is a constant itchiness. The cow eagerly rubs 
herself against everything that she can get at. The hair comes 
quite off, or gets thin on various parts of the body. There are few 
scabs or sores ; but either in consequence of the rubbing, or as an 
effect of the disease, a thick scurfiness appears, particularly along 
the back, and in patches on other places. It is first seen about the 
tail, and thence it spreads in every direction. The cow soon begins 
to lose condition, the ridge of her back becomes prominent, and her 
milk decreases, and sometimes is deteriorated in quality. 

The causes are various ; they are occasionally as opposite as it is 
possible for them to be. Too luxuriant food will produce it ; it will 
more certainly follow starvation. The skin sympathizes with the 
overtaxed powers of digestion in the one case, and with the general 
debility of the frame in the other ; and nothing is so certain of 
bringing on the worst kind of it as the sudden change from com- 
parative starvation to luxuriant food. Want of cleanliness, although 
highly censurable, has been oftener accused as the cause of mange 
than it deserves ; but to nothing can it more frequently be traced 
than to contagion. 

The treatment is simple and effectual. The diseased cattle should 
be removed to some distant stable or shed where there can be no 
possible communication with the others. The disease, however pro- 
duced, must be considered and treated as a local one. The scurfi- 
ness of the skin must first be got off, by means of a hard brush, or a 



440 CATTLE. 

curry-comb, somewhat lightly applied. To this must follow the 
application of an ointment which appears to have a speci6c effect on 
the mange, and which must be well rubbed in with a soft brush, or, 
what is far better, with the hand, morning and night: there is no 
danger of the disease being communicated to the person so employed. 
The ointment must have sulphur as its basis, aided by turpentine, 
which somewhat irritates the skin, and disposes it to be acted upon 
by the sulphur ; and, to render it still more efficacious, a small por- 
tion of mercury must be added. The following will be a safe and 
very effectual application — there are few cases which will resist its 
power. Take of flowers of sulphur a pound, common turpentine 
four ounces, strong mercurial ointment two ounces, and linseed oil a 
pint. Warm the oil and melt the turpentine in it ; when they begin 
to get cool, add the sulphur, and stir the ingredients well together, 
and afterwards incorporate the blue ointment with the mass by rub- 
bing theni together. 

Vast numbers of cattle have been lost by the use of stronger and 
poisonous applications. Corrosive sublimate, in the form of an 
almost saturated solution of it, is a favorite lotion with many prac- 
titioners. Arsenic — hellebore — tobacco have had their advocates, 
and have murdered thousands of cattle. 

The practitioner must not, however, confine himself to mere local 
treatment ; physic should always be administered. Sulphur, in 
doses of eight ounces every third day, will materially assist in effect- 
ing a cure ; and on the intermediate days nothing better can be 
given than the powder recommended for hide-bound (p. 439.) 
Mashes also should be allowed every night. 

Mange, neglected or improperly treated, may degenerate into a 
worse disease, but fortunately not one of frequent occurrence. The 
scurf will be succeeded by scabs — there have been cases in which 
the scabs have appeared from the beginning — and the skin becomes 
thickened and corrugated, and covered with scales, and occasionally 
the scales peel off, and corroding ulcers appear beneath. 

The same ointment, but with double the quantity of mercury, 
must be used for this ao-o-ravated state of the disease, and a stronger 
alterative powder, consisting of two drachms of Ethiop's mineral, 
added to the one already recommended. All this mercury, however, 
must be used with caution, for it is not a drug that always agrees 
with cattle ; and salivation would, temporarily at least, and in most 
cases permanently, injure the beast, both for the dairy and the 
pasture. 

In those sadly aggravated cases that come under the observation 
of the practitioner, in which the whole of the skin is thickened and 
corrugated, with deep chaps running down on either side, or uniting 
together in various directions — when within the substance of the 
skin numerous tubercles can be felt, varying from the size of a millet- 



MAU ITCH. 441 



seed to that of a kidney-bean — when the eyelids are swelled so that 
the animal can scarcely see, and a great quantity of mucus is dis- 
charged from them — when the nostrils and lips are thickened, and 
dense and yellow mucus runs from the nose — when, beginning from 
the knees and reaching almost to the hoofs, the intervals between the 
chaps are occupied by tuberculous grapes, of different sizes, and 
some of which discharge a serous fluid ; — in such cases the surgeon 
may well be puzzled what to do. 

The animal must be bled and physicked ; but his strength must 
be supported by mashes and plenty of fresh green meat : he must 
be fomented all over many times every day, and he must be kept 
where he cannot communicate the infection. If the inflammation 
does not begin to subside, he must be bled again and again ; the 
physic must be repeated ; sulphur will constitute the best physic 
here, and he must be kept under its purgative influence : and, at 
at length, the skin beginning to supple — the cutaneous inflammation 
having, to a considerable degree, subsided — the ointment and the 
powder recommended for mange must be used. Should they not 
have sufficient effect, recourse must be had to the stronger ones pre- 
scribed for leprosy. Previous, however, to the use of either of the 
ointments, and after the inflammation has abated, the solution of the 
chloride of lime may be applied on two or three successive days with 
much advantage. 

Homxopathic treatment. — Some doses of sulphur (one a day) is 
the first remed} 7 to be employed. Then staphysac/ria should be ad- 
ministered, more especially when there are dartrous eruptions, with 
itching during the night. Dulcamara is good in the vesicular erup- 
tion, with yellow T ish serosity, which comes on after sudden cold, and 
which is accompanied by a discharge from the nose, as well as in 
dry and furfuraceous dark-colored eruptions. Mezereum is indicated 
in itchy tubercles, with redness of the skin ; arsenicum, in case the 
appetite is impaired, with periodical diarrhoea. 

MAD ITCH. 

This is a disease peculiar to the valley of the Mississippi and its 
tributaries, and, on account of its name, is reserved for this place. 
It is, however, not a disease of the skin, but of the manyplus or 
manifolds. It is said to be found only in cattle following hogs in the 
forn-fields. The hogs chew the green corn-stalk, extracting the 
juice, and leaving the refuse. Cattle eagerly eat the chewed stalks ; 
and not unfrequently these become impacted in the manyplus, and 
are then dry and indigestible. Cattle which are diseased by feeding 
on these corn-stalks, exhibit their diseased condition by a wildness 
of the eyes, and by rubbing the nose and head against any object 
near them, as trees or fences, This is so violently done, that they 
19* 



442 CATTLE. 

tear the skin and flesh horribly. This is a disease, primarily, of the 
stomach, affecting the brain and the head generally. The remedy 
must be applied promptly, and, as in all inflammations, copious bleed- 
ing must be resorted to ; and then should follow active medicine. 
The treatment prescribed for this disease at pages 313, 314, 315, 
316 and 317, must be followed. The main reliance will be a thorough 
washing of the manifolds with water, administered by the stomach- 
pump. 

Homoeopathic treatment. — This will consist of, first, aconitum, and 
then belladonna, to be followed by veratrum album. These are to 
be given to abate the secondary effects of the disease. As to the 
cause, it can only be removed as prescribed at page 313 and the 
following ones ; and the means are mainly mechanical. Sulphur 
and mcrcurius vivus may be given if there be costiveness ; nux 
vomica if the faeces be hard ; opium and argilla when nothing passes ; 
and plumbum where the constipation is very obstinate. 



Connected with mange, the usual accompaniment, and probably 
the occasional cause of it, is the appearance of vermin on the skin. 
It cannot be supposed that they are originally produced by any dis- 
ease or state of the skin ; but the ova (eggs) of these animalculae, 
floating in the atmosphere, find in the skin of cattle, under certain 
circumstances, and under those alone, a proper nidus, or place where 
they may be hatched into life. A beast in good health and condi- 
tion will not have one of those insects upon him unless he mixes 
with lousy cattle ; but if he be turned out in the straw-yard in winter, 
and is half-starved there, and his coat becomes rough, and matted, 
and foul, they will soon swarm upon him. By the constant irrita- 
tion which they excite, they will predispose the skin to an attack of 
mange from other causes, if they do not actually produce it. 

He who had not personal observation of the fact, would hardly 
believe how numerous they soon become. There are myriads of 
them on the hide of the ill-fated beast. They keep him in a con- 
stant state of torment, and are, in a manner, devouring him before 
his time. It cannot be surprising that they rapidly spread from one 
animal to another. The slightest contact, the lying on the same 
lair, or the feeding on the same pasture, is sufficient to enable them 
to be communicated from the infected beast to all the rest. The 
animalcule thrives everywhere, although the ovum did not find a 
proper nidus on the skin of the healthy beast ; and the vermin, once 
established there, soon change the character of the skin, and cover 
it with scurf and mange, 

Various powders and lotions have been recommended for the de- 
struction of these parasites. A powder can scarcely be brought 



WARBLES. 443 



into contact with a thousandth part of them ; nor can a lotion, 
unless used in a quantity sufficient to kill the beast as well as those 
that are feeding upon him. An ointment is the most convenient 
application, and by dint of rubbing, a little of it may be made to go 
a great way. The common scab ointment for sheep (one part of 
strong mercurial ointment, and five of lard) will be effectual for this 
purpose ; and if a little of it be well rubbed in, instead of a great 
deal being smeared over the animal, there will be no danger of sal- 
ivation. 

Homceopathic treatment. — Lice are destroyed in a few days with a 
decoction of staphysagria, or with a pomade prepared with three 
parts of axunge and one part of parsley-seed, pounded. 



WARBLES. 

Toward the latter part of the summer and the beginning of autumn, 
and especially in fine and warm weather, cattle out at pasture are 
frequently annoyed by a fly of the Diptera order and the (Estrus 
genus, that seems to sting them with great severity. The animal 
attacked runs bellowing from his companions, with his head and 
neck stretched out, and his tail extending straight from his body, 
and he seeks for refuge, if possible, in some pool or stream of water. 
(The fty seems to fear or to have an aversion to the water, and 
cattle are there exempt from its attack.) The whole herd, having 
previously been exposed to the same annoyance, are frightened, and 
scamper about in every direction, or, one and all, rush into the 
stream. Under the excitation of the moment, they disregard all 
control, and even oxen at work in the fields will sometimes betake 
themselves to flight with the plough at their heels, regardless of 
their driver, or of the incumbrance which they drag behind them. 

The formidable enemy that causes this alarm, and seems to inflict 
so much torture, is the (Estrus Bovis, the Breeze, or Gad-fly, which, 
at this time, is seeking a habitation for its future young, and selects 
the hides of cattle for this purpose. It is said to choose the younger 
beasts, and those that are in highest condition. There has evidently 
been considerable exercise of selection, for a great many of the 
cattle in the same pastures will have only a few warbles on their 
backs, while others will, in a manner, be covered by them, 

The oestrus bovis is the largest and most beautiful of this genus. 
Its head is white, and covered with soft down — its thorax yellow an- 
teriorly, with four black longitudinal lines — the centre of the thorax 
is black, and the posterior part of an ashen color — the abdomen is 
also of an ashen color, with a wide black band in the centre, and 
covered posteriorly with yellow hair. It does not leave its chrysalis 
state until late in the summer, and is then eagerly employed in pro- 



444 CATTLE. 

viding a habitation for its future progeny. It selects the back of the 
ox, at no great distance from the spine on either side, and alighting 
there, it speedily pierces the integument, deposits an egg in the cel- 
lular substance beneath it, and probably a small quantity of some 
acid, which speedily produces a little tumor on the part, and accounts 
for the apparent suffering of the animal. 

The egg seems to be hatched before the wound is closed, and the 
larva, or maggot, occupies a small cyst or cell beneath it. The tail 
of the larva projects into this opening, and the insect is thus sup- 
plied with air, the principal air-vessels being placed posteriorly ; 
while with the mouth, deep at the bottom of the abscess, it receives 
the pus, or other matter that is secreted there. A fluid, resembling 
pus, can always be squeezed from the tumor, and increasing in quan- 
tity as the animal approaches his change of form. In its early stage 
of existence the larva is white, like that of most other flies ; but as 
it approaches its maturity, it becomes darker, and at length almost 
black. These little tumors form the residence of the larva, and are 
recognized by the name of warbles. 

The abscess having been once formed, appears to be of little or 
no inconvenience to the beast on whose back it is found. It cer- 
tainly does not interfere with his condition, and the butcher regards 
the existence of these warbles even as a proof of a disposition to 
thrive. The injury to the skin, however, is another affair, and the 
tanner would probably tell a different stoiy. The larva, if undis- 
turbed, continues in his cyst, until the month of June or July in the 
following year, and then forces itself through the aperture already 
described, and the accomplishment of which occupies two days. It 
is soft when it first escapes, but it soon hardens ; and if it is fortu- 
nate enough to escape the birds, or if it does not fall into the water, 
which the cattle seem now instinctively to seek, as it were to destroy 
as many of their enemies as possible, it conceals itself in the nearest 
hiding-place it can find, where it remains motionless until it changes 
to a chrysalis, which is speedily effected ; it continues in its new 
form about six weeks, and then bursts from its shell a perfect fly. 

It is a very singular circumstance, that the escape of the larva 
from its prison on the back of the ox always takes place in the 
morning, and between six and eight o'clock. 

Being also exposed to many dangers in its chrysaline state, it is 
then covered with a scaly box of great strength, and from which it 
would seem impossible for it ever to make its escape ; but when its 
change is complete, and it begins to struggle within its prison, a 
valve at one end of its narrow house, and fastened only by a slight 
filament, flies open, and the insect wings its way, first to find its 
mate, and then to deposit its eggs on the cattle in the nearest pastures. 

Some farmers are very careless about the existence of these war- 
bles ; others very properly endeavor to destroy the grub that inhab- 



ANGLE-BERRIES, OK WARTS. 443 



its them. This is effected in various ways — a little corrosive liquor 
is poured into the hole, or a red-hot needle introduced, or the larva 
is crushed or forced out by pressure with the finger and thumb. 
Although the existence of the warble is a kind of proof of the 
health and condition of the animal, yet there is no reason why the 
best beasts should be tormented by the gad-fly, or the strongest and 
best hides be perforated, and, in a manner, spoiled in their best parts. 
Although when the larva escapes or is expelled, the tumor soon 
subsides, the holes made are scarcely filled up during that season ; 
and even a twelvemonth afterwards, a weakness of the hide, and dis- 
position to crack, will show where the bot has been. If all the 
farmers could be induced to search for and destroy the insect when 
a larva, the cattle of that district might be nearly or quite freed from 
this pest. 

ANGLE-BERRIES*, OR WARTS. 

Cattle are subject to various excrescences, growing from the cuti- 
cle at first, but afterwards identified with the true skin. They 
assume many forms, from that of scales of greater or less thickness, 
and accompanied sometimes by chaps and sores, to fungous growth, 
of different size and hardness, and bearing the character of warts. 
They are occasionally very numerous and exceedingly trouble- 
some, and especially about the teats. When they grow about 
the eye-lids, they are a sad nuisance to the beast. 

When they are only exfoliations and scales of the cuticle, friction 
with camphoretted oil will occasionally remove them. It has been 
known to disperse the warty excrescences. Mercurial preparations, 
whether blue ointment or corrosive sublimate and soap, are danger- 
ous, but they will usually get rid of the angle-berries. When they 
are numerous, and particularly about the udder, the practitioner will 
probably try to remove the largest of them by means of a liga- 
ture passed round their roots. This, however, will often be an 
almost endless affair, and recourse must be had to the knife and the 
cautery. The cautery will stop the bleeding, destroy the root of the 
wart, and thus prevent its springing again. When they are small, 
they will be most successfully attacked by means of the nitrate of 
silver, being touched daily with it in a solid form, if they are few 
and distinct; or washed with a strong solution of it, if they are 
more numerous and scattered over a large surface. They have been 
attributed to various causes, as contusions, stings of insects, want of 
condition, inflammation of the skin; but in most cases the actual 
cause is unknown. 

Homoeopathic, treatment. — Warts appear on the breast, belly, 
back, neck, tail ; sometimes smooth, round, soft and broad ; some- 
times pediculated, chapped, spongy, hard and dry, or moist, painful 
or without feeling. For the cure of warts which are dry, smooth, 



446 CATTLE. 

and not pediculated, dulcnm'ira should be employed, and in some 
cases sulphur ; for those which are ulcerated, arsenicum; for those 
which bleed readily and cause pain, causticum. Excrescences which 
.are moist, incrusted, chapped, presenting a disgusting appearance, 
and frequently of an enormous size, require thuja, externally and 
internally, and the employment of this remedy must be continued 
for a long time. Small warts on the lips yield to calcarea carbonica. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A LIST OF THE MEDICINES USED IN THE TREAT- 
MENT OF THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Alcohol. — There are two circumstances which not only render the 
practice of giving stimulants to cattle far more excusable than in the 
horse, but absolutely necessary ; the first is, the disposition which all 
the inflammatory diseases of cattle have to take on a typhoid form, 
and assume a malignant character ; and the second is, the construc- 
tion of the stomachs of these animals, in consequence of which a 
considerable portion of the medicine falls into the comparatively 
insensible paunch. Hence, inflammation having been subdued, the 
practitioner is always anxious to support the strength of the consti- 
tution ; and even while he is combating inflammation, he cautiously 
adds a stimulant to the purgative, in order that he may dispose the 
tissues with which that purgative may come into contact to be affected 
by it. Hence ginger forms an indispensable ingredient in every 
aperient drink ; hence the recourse to wine in many cases of low 
fever ; and hence also the foundation of, and the excuse for, the 
custom of adding the sound home-brewed ale to almost every purga- 
tive, and especially for young and weakly cattle, when evident 
inflammatory action does not forbid it. The fiery spices and the 
almost undiluted spirit administered by the cow-leech can never be 
justified ; yet, in cattle-practice, the beneficial effect of the aperient 
often depends fully as much on the carminative by which it is accom- 
panied, as on the purgative power of the drug itself. 

Aloes. — It holds a secondary rank, or might be almost dismissed 
from the list of cattle aperients. It is always uncertain in its effect, 
and sometimes appears to be absolutely inert. Six ounces have been 
given without producing any appreciable effect. Still, however, as 
there is no case on record in which it has destroyed the ox by super- 
purgation, and as occasionally it does seem to exert some purgative 
effect, it may be admitted in combination with or alternating with 
other purgatives, when constipation is obstinate ; few, however, would 
think of resorting to it in the first instance. 

The Barbadoes aloes should be selected ; and on account of the 
construction of the stomachs, it must be always administered in solu- 
tion, for a ball would break through the floor of the cesophagean canal. 



448 CATTLE. 

and be lost in the rumen. Two ounces of aloes, and one ounce of 
gum Arabic (in order to suspend the imperfectly dissolved portion of 
the aloes) should be put into a pint of boiling water, and the mixture 
frequently stirred during the first day ; then two ounces of tincture 
of ginger are to be added, not only to prevent the mixture from fer- 
menting, but because that aromatic seems to be so useful, and in a 
manner indispensable in cattle purgatives. The dose should consist 
of from half a pint to a pint of the solution, or from four to seven or 
eight drachms of the aloes. Some persons boil the aloes in the 
water, but the purgative effect of the drug is much lessened by this. 

Aloes is very useful in the form of tincture. Eight ounces of 
powdered aloes and one ounce of powdered myrrh should be put into 
two quarts of rectified spirit, diluted with an equal quantity water. 
The mixture should be daily well shaken for a fortnight, when it will 
be fit for use. It is one of the best applications for recent wounds ; 
and in old wounds especially, accompanied by any foulness of them, 
or discharge of fetid pi e, nothing will be more serviceable than equal 
parts of this tincture and a solution of the chloride of lime. 

Alteratives. — These are medicines that are supposed to have a 
slow yet beneficial effect in altering some diseased action of the 
vessels of the skin or of the organs of circulation or digestion. To a 
cow with yellows, or mange, or that cannot be made to acquire con- 
dition, or where the milk is diminishing, small quantities of medicine 
are often administered, under the tempting, but deceptive, term of 
alteratives. They had much better be let alone in the majority of 
cases. If a cow be really ill, let her be treated accordingly ; let her 
be bled or physicked, or both ; but let her not be nauseated, or her 
constitution ruined, by continually dosing her with various drugs. 
The want of condition and thriving in cattle is far more connected 
with a diseased state of their complicated stomachs, and particularly 
with obstruction in the manyplus, than with any other cause ; the 
alteratives, then, should be small quantities of purgatives, with aro- 
matics, as Epsom salts, or sulphur with ginger ; or, what would be 
still preferable, rock salt in the manger for them to lick, or common 
salt mingled with their food. There can, however, be no doubt that 
in many cutaneous affections, and especially where mange is sus- 
pected, alterative medicines will be very beneficial. They should be 
composed of ^Ethiop's mineral, nitre, and sulphur, in the proportions 
of one, two, and four, and in daily doses of from half an ounce to an 
ounce. 

Alum. — This is a useful astringent in diarrhoea, and especially in 
the purging of calves. It is best administered in the form of alum 
whey, which is composed of two drachms of powdered alum, dis- 
solved in a pint of hot milk ; a drachm of ginger may be added ; 
and, if the purging be violent, a scruple of opium. Alum is rarely 
used externally in the treatment of cattle, unless for canker in the 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 4-19 

mouth, and as a useful wash after the tongue has been lanced in 
blain ; and unless in the form just mentioned, the less it is used inter- 
nally the better. 

Ammonia is not frequently used. In the form of hartshorn, it 
enters into the composition of some stimulating liniments, as in cases 
of palsy. The. carbonate of ammonia has been extolled as a specific 
for hoove. The author always doubted this ; he put it to the test, 
and it failed. It was administered as a chemical principle, it being 
supposed that the alkali would neutralize the acid gas that was extri- 
cated from the fermenting food ; but it has been proved that this gas 
consists chiefly either of carburetted or sulphuretted hydrogen ; 
besides which there is another consideration, that, except adminis- 
tered by means of Reed's pump, not one drop of the ammonia would 
find its way into the paunch. 

Anodynes.— The one commonly used in cattle-practice is opium. 
The doses in which it may be employed have already been pointed 
out when treating of the diseases in which it is indicated. 

Antimony. — There are but three preparations of it can be useful 
to the practitioner on cattle. The first is 

Emetic Tartar, which, in doses from half a drachm to a drachm, 
and combined with nitre and digitalis, bis great efficacy in lower- 
ing the circulation of the blood in inflammation of the lungs and 
every catarrhal affection, and particularly in that species of pleurisy 
to which cattle are so subject. Emetic tartar, rubbed down with 
lard, constitutes a powerful and very useful stimulant when applied 
to the skin. 

Antimonial Powder — the powder of oxide of antimony with 
phosphate, of lime. It is frequently sold in the shops under the name 
of James's Powder, and possesses all the properties of that more 
expensive drug. It is a useful febrifuge, in cases where it may not be 
advisable to nauseate the beast to too great a degree. 

Chloride (Butyr) of Antimony. — Where it is wished that a caus- 
tic shall act only superficially, this is the most useful one that can be 
employed. It has a strong affinity for water, and therefore readily 
combines with the fluids belonging to the part to which it is applied, 
and so becomes diluted and comparatively powerless, and incapable 
of producing any deep and corroding mischief. It has also the 
advantage, that, by the change of color which it produces, it accu- 
rately marks the extent of its action, and therefore forms an unerxing 
guide to the surgeon. For warts, foul in the foot, cankered foot, and 
for some indolent and unhealthy wounds, it is a valuable caustic and 
stimulant. 

Antispasmodics. — Opium, for its general power, and particularly 
for its efficacy in locked-jaw, stands unrivalled. The spirits of tur- 
pentine and nitrous ether are useful in cases of colic. 

Astringents. — These are few in number, but they are powerful : 



450 CATTLE 

alum, catechu, opium (an astringent because it is an anodyne), and 
blue vitriol, comprise the list ; the first used both externally and 
internally ; the two next internally ; and the last internally, but 
chiefly powerful as arresting nasal discharge. 

Blisters. — The thickness of the skin of cattle renders it somewhat 
difficult to produce any great degree of vesication. The part should 
be previously fomented with hot water, then thoroughly dried, and 
the blistering application well rubbed in. With these precautions, the 
common blister ointment will act very fairly ; the turpentine tincture 
of cantharides still better ; while an ointment composed by triturating 
one drachm of emetic tar with six of lard, will produce more powerful 
and deeper irritation, but not so much actual blistering. Sometimes 
boiling water; and in a few cases, and especially in bony enlargements 
about the legs attended by much lameness, the hot iron will be re- 
sorted to. 

Calamine. — See Zinc. 

Colombo. — A very useful tonic, and especially in those cases of 
debility which accompany or follow dysentery. It should be given 
in doses of from one to three drachms, combined with ginger. 

Calomel. — See Mercury. 

Camphor. — Used externally alone in cattle-practice. It is a com- 
ponent part in the liniments for palsy and garget. 

Cantharides — the principal ingredient in all blistering ointments, 
and to which they owe their power. Corrosive sublimate, sulphuric 
acid, and euphorbium, may increase the torture of the animal, but 
they will generally blemish, and often lay the foundation for deep 
and corroding ulcers. The best blister ointment for cattle is com- 
posed of one part of cantharides (Spanish flies) finely powdered, 
three of lard, and one of yellow resin ; the lard and the resin should 
be melted together, and the flies added when these ingredients begin 
to cool. 

Cakraways. — The powder of these seeds may be used as an occa- 
sional change for ginger ; yet it is not so stomachic as the ginger, 
and is decidedly inferior to it, except in cases of flatulent colic. It 
may be given in doses, from half an ounce to two ounces. 

Castor Oil. — An effectual and safe purgative for' cattle, in doses 
from twelve ounces to a pint, and that will be properly employed 
when Epsom salts or other aperient drugs have not produced their 
desired effect. It is usually made into a kind of emulsion with the 
yolk of an egg. It is, however, to be doubted whether it is much 
superior to a less expensive purgative, the linseed oil. 

Catechu is an extract from the wood of one of the acacia trees. 
It is much less expensive than the Gum Kino, and it is, when unadul- 
terated, more effectual than that gum in subduing the diarrhoea of 
calves or adult cattle. The quantity, and the drugs with which it 
should be combined, have been stated in p. 338. 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 451 

. — _ 

Caustics. — In the treatment of foul in the foot, these are indispen- 
sable, and the chloride (butyr) of antimony has no rival in the cer- 
tainty with which it destroys the fungus or otherwise unhealthy 
surface to which it is applied, and the equal certainty of its destruc- 
tive power being confined to the surface. For warts, angle-berries, 
&c, externally situated, the nitrate of silver in substance, or in the 
form of a strong solution, will be most effectual ; for canker in the 
mouth, barbs, and paps, a strong solution of alum will be as useful 
as anything ; and in order to stimulate indolent and unhealthy ulcers, 
nothing can compare with the diluted nitric acid. 

Chalk. — See Lime. 

Chamomile. — If it were necessary to add another tonic to the 
gentian and Colombo, it would be the chamomile, and on the principle 
of not being so powerful as either of the others, and therefore used 
in somewhat doubtful cases, when, if the state of fever has not quite 
passed over, a stronger stimulant might have been prejudicial. 

Charges. — These are thick adhesive plasters spread over parts 
that have been strained or weakened, or that are affected with 
rheumatism, and which, being applied warm, mingle so with the 
hair, that they cannot be separated for a long time afterwards. They 
give a permanent support to the part, and likewise exert a gentle 
but constant stimulating power. Old cows, weakened and rendered 
almost useless by a rheumatic affection of the loins, which is de- 
generating into palsy, often derive much benefit from the application 
of a charge. It is also useful when the joints are the seat of rheuma- 
tic lameness. 

Clysters. — The lower or larger intestines of cattle, which, al- 
though long, are not capacious, and whose surface is not irregular 
and cellated, but perfectly smooth, so that a fluid will readily pass 
along them and to their full extent, will show the propriety of hav- 
ing frequent recourse to this mode of administering medicine. A 
soothing and emollient injection may be brought into contact with 
the inflamed and irritable surface of these intestines ; or, on the 
other hand, that surface may be extensively and beneficially stimu- 
lated by the direct application of purgative medicine. The former 
is a most important consideration in diarrhoea and dysentery ; and 
the latter is not of less moment when the comparative insensibility 
of the three first stomachs of cattle is regarded. Much may be 
done by means of the bladder and pipe, but the newly-invented 
stomach and enema-pump of Read enables the practitioner to derive 
from injections all the advantages that can be connected with their 
administration. 

Copper. — There are but two compounds of this metal that have 
any value in cattle-practice, and they are the Blue Vitriol, or sul- 
phate of copper, and Verdigris, or acetate of copper. The use of 
the first is limited to the coryza, or inflammation of and defluxiou 



462 CATTLE. 

from the nose in cattle, accompanied by little or no cough or fever, 
and which is sometimes in a* manner epidemic. The manner of ad- 
ministering it is described in p. 183. As a caustic, the blue vitriol is 
altogether superseded by those mentioned under that head. 

Verdigris is employed externally only, in one of the varieties of 
foul in the foot, in order to repress fungous growths. It is mixed 
with an equal portion of the sugar of lead, reduced to a fine powder, 
and sprinkled on the diseased surface. 

Cordials. — These are destructively abused by many cow-leeches, 
but, as has been again and again stated, there is that in the structure 
and constitution of cattle, which will excuse their administration 
much oftener than in the horse. Except in extreme cases, and when 
their use is sanctioned by the decision of a competent veterinary 
practitioner, they should not extend beyond good home-brewed ale, 
and ginger and carraways. 

Corrosive Sublimate. — See Mercury. 

Crotox Seeds. — These can scarcely be admitted into practice on 
ordinary occasions, or as a usual purgative ; but in cases of phrenitis, 
tetanus, inflammatory fever, and in those strange constipations which 
so often puzzle and annoy, the Croton seed, in doses of from ten to 
sixteen grains, may be allowed. The bowels having been opened, 
the practitioner will keep up the purgative action by means of a 
milder and safer aperient. The seeds should be kept in a close 
bottle, and when wanted, should be deprived of their shells, and 
pounded for use. The farina soon loses its power, and the oil is 
shamefully adulterated. 

Diaphoretics. — The thick hide of the ox forbids us to expect 
much advantage from those drugs which are supposed to have their 
principal influence determined to the skin, and thus to increase the 
sensible and insensible perspiration ; yet emetic tartar and sulphur 
are, to a considerable extent, valuable in cases of fever — and the 
latter most certainly in cutaneous eruption and mange, by opening 
the pores of the skin, or exciting its vessels to heakhy action. One, 
however, of the best diaphoretics is that which has been compara- 
tively lately introduced in the general management of cattle, viz., 
friction applied to the skin. It needs but the slightest observation 
to be convinced that the health of the stall-fed beast, axid his thriv- 
ing and getting into condition, are materially promoted by the liberal 
vise of the brush, and sometimes even of the curry-comb. 

Digitalis (Foxglove.) — The leaves of this plant, gathered about 
the flowering season, dried, kept in the dark, and powdered when 
wanted, are most valuable in diminishing the frequency of the pulse, 
and the general irritability of the system in cattle. A reference to 
the treatment of almost every febrile disease will illustrate this. The 
dose is from half a drachm to a drachm, with emetic tartar, nitre 
and sulphur, and administered twice or thrice in the day, according 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT Of CATTLE. 453 

to the urgency of the case. The practitioner must not be alarmed 
at the intermittent pulse which is produced. It is by means of cer- 
tain pauses and intermissions in the action of the heart, that the 
rapidity of the circulation is diminished when this drug is exhibited. 
The intermittent pulse is that which the practitioner will be anxious 
to obtain, and which he will generally regard as the harbinger of re- 
turning health. 

Diuretics. — They are allowable and beneficial in swelled legs, 
foul in the foot, and all dropsical affections, while they advantageous- 
ly alternate with other medicines in the treatment of mange, and all 
cutaneous affections, and in cases of mild or chronic fever. Nitre 
and liquid turpentine are the best diuretics ; and almost the only 
ones on which dependence can be placed. The doses have been 
already pointed out. 

Drinks. — It is needless again to explain the reason why all medi- 
cines that cannot be concealed in the food must be administered to 
cattle in the form of drinks. If they are exhibited in a solid form, 
they will break through the floor of the cesophagean canal, and enter 
the rumen. Farriers and cow-leeches, however, often give to their 
drinks the force and momentum of a ball, by the large vessels from 
which they are poured all at once down the throat. There are few 
things of more consequence than attention to the manner in which a 
drink is administered. 

Elder. — The leaf of this tree is used boiled in lard. It forms one 
of the most soothing and suppling ointments that can be applied. 
The practitioner should make his own elder ointment, for he will 
often receive from the druggist an irritating unguent formed of lard 
colored with verdigris, instead of the emollient one furnished by the 
elder. 

Epsom Salts. — See Magnesia. 

Fomentations. — If, owing to the greater thickness of the skin, 
these are not quite so effectual in cattle as in the horse, yet, as open- 
ing the pores of the skin and promoting per>piration in the part, and 
thus abating local swellings, and relieving pain, and lessening inflam- 
mation, they are often exceedingly serviceable. The practitioner may 
use the decoction of what herbs he pleases, but the chief virtue of 
the fomentation depends on the warmth of the water. 

Gentian. — An excellent stomachic and tonic, whether at the close 
of illness, or as a remedy for chronic debility. Its dose varies from 
one to four drachms, and should be almost invariably combined with 
ginger. 

Ginger. — The very best aromatic in the list of cordials for cattle, 
and, with the exception of carraways, superseding all the rest. The 
dose will vary from half a drachm to four drachms. 

Goulard's Extract. — See Lead. 

Hellebore, Black. — The root of it forms an excellent seton when 



454 CATTLE. 

passed through the dew-lap ; it produces plenty of swelling and dis- 
charge, and rarely or never runs on to gangrene. 

Injections. — See Clysters. 

Iodine. — The use of this mineral is limited to a few cases, but 
there its effect is truly admirable. It will scarcely ever fail of dis- 
persing enlargements of the glands, or hardened tumors, whether 
under or at the side of the jaw, or round the joints. One part of 
hydriodate of potash must be triturated with seven parts of lard, 
and the ointment daily and well rubbed on and round the part. In- 
durations of the udder seldom resist its power, unless the ulcerative 
process has already commenced. 

There is a still more important use to which this drug may be ap- 
plied. It possesses some power to arrest the growth of tubercles in 
the lungs, and even to disperse them when recently formed. It is 
only since the former part of this work was written that the attention 
of the author has been so strongly directed to this property of iodine, 
and that he has had such extensive opportunities of putting it to the 
test. He will not say that he has discovered a specific for phthisis 
or consumption in cattle, but he has saved some that would other- 
wise have perished, and, for a while, prolonged the existence and 
somewhat restored the condition of more. He would urge the pro- 
prietor of cattle, and more especially his fellow-practitioners, to study 
closely the symptoms of phthisis, as detailed in pages 272, 2*73 ; to 
make themselves masters of the inward, feeble, painful, hoarse, gurg- 
ling cough of consumption ; and as soon as they are assured that 
this termination or consequence of catarrh, or pneumonia, or pleurisy, 
begins to have existence — that tubercles have been formed, and, per- 
haps, have begun to suppurate, let them have recourse to the iodine, 
in the form of the hydriodate of potash, given in a small mash in 
doses of three grains morning and evening at the commencement of 
the treatment, and gradually increased 'to six or eight grains. To 
this should be added proper attention to comfort ; yet not too much 
nursing ; and free access to succulent, but not stimulating, food ; 
and the medicine should be continued not only until the general con- 
dition of the beast begins to improve, but until the character of the 
cough has been essentially changed. 

Ipecacuanha. — This drug is used in the composition of the Do- 
ver's, or compound ipecacuanha powder, which has been recom- 
mended by some practitioners in the treatment of dysentery. It is 
thus made : — " Take ipecacuanha root powdered, and opium also in 
powder, of each a drachm, and sulphate of potash an ounce. Rub 
them together to a fine powder." The dose is from two to four 
drachms. This, however, is not an efficient medicine for such a 
disease. 

Lard. — This is the principal basis of all ointments. 

Laudanum. — See Opium. 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 455 

Lead, Sugar of — (Superacetate of Lead.) — This, mixed with 
the subacetate of copper (verdigris, which see,) forms a useful caustic 
for the destruction of fungous growths. 

Goulard's Extract. — (Liquor Plumbi Superacetatis.) — When 
the skin is unbroken, this preparation of lead is completely thrown 
away, whether used either as a lotion to subdue inflammation, or to 
disperse tumors or effusions It is principally serviceable, applied 
in a very dilute form, to abate inflammation of the eye. 

White Lead (Subcarbonas Plumbi) is the basis of a cooling, 
drying ointment, used chiefly for excoriations, or superficial wounds. 

Lime. Carbonate of Lime, Chalk. — This is a useful ingredient 
in all the drinks given in diarrhoea or dysentery. In every stage of 
these diseases there is a tendency in the fourth stomach, and perhaps 
in the intestines, to generate a considerable quantity of acid, than 
which a greater source of irritation can scarcely be imagined. The 
chalk, or the alkali of the chalk, will unite with this acid, and neu- 
tralize it, and render it harmless. In the diarrhoea of the calf it is 
absolutely indispensable, for there the acid principle is frequently 
developed to a great degree. The dose will vary from a drachm to 
an ounce. 

Chloride of Lime. — The list of medicines for cattle does not con- 
tain anything more valuable than this. As a disinfectant — if the 
walls, the floor, and the furniture of the cow-house or stable, are 
twice or thrice well washed with it, the sound cattle may return to 
the building with perfect safety, however contagious may have been 
the disease of those that had previously perished there. Applied to 
the pudenda of the cow that has aborted, it destroys that peculiar 
smell which causes abortion in others, more readily than any prepara- 
tion of the most powerful or nauseous ingredient. In blain, garget, 
foul in the foot, and sloughing ulcers of every description, it removes 
the fetor ; and, if the process of decomposition has not proceeded 
too far, gives a healthy surface to the ulcers which nothing else 
could bring about — and, administered internally in blain, in the ma- 
lignant epidemic, and in diarrhoea and dysentery, it is of essential 
service. In the last disease it is particularly beneficial in changing 
the nature of the intestinal discharge, and depriving it of its putridity 
und infection, and disposing the surface of the intestine to take on a 
more healthy character. Half an ounce of the powder, dissolved in 
a gallon of water, will give a solution of sufficient strength, both as 
a disinfectant applied to the cow-house, and for external and internal 
use as it regards the animal. 

Linseed. — Nothing can compare with the linseed meal as an 
emollient poultice— if the ulcer is foul, a little of the chloride of 
lime should be mixed with it. If the object of the poultice is to 
bring an ulcer into a proper state of suppuration, a little common 
turpentine may be added ; but the cruelly-torturing caustics of the 



456 CATTLE. 

cow-leech and the farrier should never disgrace the regular practi- 
tioner. 

An excellent mash in cases of catarrh or sore-throat, and as an 
emollient in any intestinal affection, is made by adding bran to an 
infusion of linseed. 

Linseed Oil. — This is little inferior to castor oil as a purgative ; 
it is much cheaper, and it is equally safe. Where the case seems to 
indicate an oily purgative, and the first dose of castor oil fails, it may 
be followed up by smaller doses of linseed oil, until the desired effect 
is produced. 

Magnesia, Sulphate of. Epsom Salts. — This may be regarded 
as the staple purgative of cattle. It is as safe as Glauber's salts ; it 
is more certain, and it will dissolve in one-third of the quantity of 
water. The first dose of physic should always consist of the Epsom 
salts, quickened in its action, in extreme cases, by the farina of the 
Croton-nut ; the purgative effect may be kept up by means of sul- 
phur or Epsom salts, in doses of six ounces of the former, or eight 
of the latter, as the state of the animal may appear to require. The 
medium dose is about a pound, with a quarter of an ounce of ginger, 
but a pound and a half may be given to a large beast without the 
slightest danger. 

Mashes are very useful in cattle-practice, not so much to prepare for 
physic, or to get into condition, as to form a soothing and cooling 
substitute, when the case requires a temporary abstinence from dry 
and stimulating food. They may be composed, like those of the 
horse, of bran only, with hot or cold water ; or of bran with a decoc- 
tion of linseed. In cases of debility, steeped or ground oats may be 
mixed with the bran, or malt may be used as a substitute for the 
bran and oats. 

Mercdby. Mercurial Ointment. — The practitioner should be 
very cautious in his use of this on cattle. Indeed, it is scarcely 
allowable except in a very diluted state, and with the common sul- 
phur ointment, in bad cases of mange ; or a small quantity of it may 
be mixed with lard for the destruction of vermin. 

Sulphate of Mercury. ^Ethiop's Mineral. — A veiy useful altera- 
tive combined with sulphur and nitre, where there is any cutaneous 
affection. The circumstances under which it may be administered, 
and the doses, will be found in various parts of this work. 

Proto-chloride of Mercury. Calomel. — This should rarely be 
given to cattle, and never as a purgative. In chronic inflammation 
of the liver, it often has a decidedly injurious effect : in jaundice, 
caused by a gall-stone obstructing the biliary ducts, or in that of a 
more chronic nature accompanied by debility and declining condition, 
the experience of the writer will not warrant him in recommending 
the administration of calomel : he would, on the contrary, be disposed 
to confine its use to dysentery, in which, combined with and guarded 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 457 

by opium, irritation is allayed, while the natural action of the bowels 
is promoted. 

Bichloride of Mercury. Corrosive Sublimate. — This drug 
may almost be dispensed with by the practitioner on cattle. It can 
never be administered internally ; it is highly dangerous used exter- 
nally in considerable or efficient quantity for the cure of mange or any 
cutaneous eruption ; and as a caustic there are many as good. 

Mint. — An infusion or decoction of this plant will be a useful vehi- 
cle in which other medicines may be administered for the cure of 
diarrhoea or colic. 

Myrrh. — The tincture of myrrh is a useful application to wounds, 
and is also applied to the cankered mouth ; but it contains nothing to 
render it preferable to the tincture of aloes in the former case, or a 
solution of alum in the latter. 

Nitre — See Potash. 

Nitrous Ether, Spirit of. — A favorite medicine with many prac- 
titioners in the advanced stages of fever. It is said to rouse, to a 
certain degree, the exhausted powers of the animal, while it rarely 
brings back the dangerous febrile action that was subsiding. It is 
not, however, a stimulant to which the author has often dared to 
have recourse, except in the advanced stages of epidemic catarrh, or 
the malignant epidemic. The dose should not exceed half an ounce. 

Nux Vomica. — This is not introduced from any experience which 
the author has had of its efficacy, but from the favorable opinion 
which some continental veterinarians have expressed of it in the cure 
of palsy. The doses which they gave consisted of more than an 
ounce. The author has tried the nux vomica, and its essential prin- 
ciple, the strychnine, as a cure for palsy in the dog, but never with 
success. 

Opium. — As an anti-spasmodic, an allayer of irritation, and an 
astringent because it does allay irritation, opium stands unrivalled. 
It is that on which the chief, or almost the only dependence is placed 
in locked-jaw. A colic drink would lose the greater part of its effi- 
cacy without it ; and if it were left out of the medicines for diarrhoea 
and dysentery, almost every other drug would be administered in 
vain. It is most conveniently given in the form of powder, and held 
in suspension with other medicines in thick gruel. 

The tincture of opium (laudanum) is useful in inflammation of the 
eyes ; and a poultice of linseed meal made with a decoction of poppy- 
heads, often has an admirable effect when applied to irritable ulcers, 
or to parts laboring under much inflammation. 

Pitch. — This is only useful as the principal ingredient in charges, 
so useful in cases of palsy, or sprain, or chronic local debility. 

Plasters. — See Charges. 

Potash. Nitrate of Nitre. — As useful to cattle as to the horse. 
It has an immediate effect in abating inflammation, and it is a mild 
20 



458 CATTLE. 

diuretic. The dose would vary from two to four drachms. When 
dissolved in water, it much lowers the temperature of that fluid, and 
therefore the solution, applied immediately after it is made, forms an 
excellent application in cases of sprains, or where there is much 
superficial inflammation without any lesion of the skin. Combined 
with antimonial powder, or emetic tartar and digitalis, it forms an 
almost indispensable ingredient in every fever drink. 

Sulphur of Potash. — An ingredient in the Dover's powder. 

Poultices. — These are justly valued for abating inflammation, 
cleansing wounds, and disposing them to heal. In some cases of foul 
in the foot, and especially in that most painful and occasionally fatal 
variety whose immediate seat is at the division of the pasterns, also 
in ulcers about the throat or joints, and in garget, poultices can 
scarcely be dispensed with. The basis will generally be linseed meal, 
rendered even more soothing by opium ; or to which activity may be 
given by the addition of common turpentine or chloride of lime. 

Rye, Ergot of. — The spurred rye has lately, and with considera- 
ble advantage, been introduced into veterinary practice in protracted 
or difficult parturition, in order to stimulate the uterus to renewed 
and increased action, when the labor pains appeared to be subsiding. 

Setons. — The use of setons in practice on the diseases of cattle is 
in a manner limited to the passing of a piece of hair, rope, or of black 
hellebore root through the dewlap ; and, as exciting inflammation in 
the neighborhood of the diseased part, and thus lessening the original 
one, and causing a determination of blood to a greater or less extent 
to this new seat of irritation, they are useful both in acute and chronic 
inflammation of the respiratory organs. In young cattle rapidly 
thriving, and placed in pasture perhaps a little too luxuriant, perma- 
nent setons are highly beneficial. They act as a salutary drain, and 
prevent that accumulation of the circulating fluid, which is the usual 
cause of inflammatory fever and other fatal complaints. 

Sulphate of Soda. Glauber's Salts. — A very common purgative 
for cattle ; and a very good one, but inconvenient on account of its 
requiring three times its weight of water in order to dissolve it, and 
also on account of its so readily efflorescing when it is exposed to 
the atmosphere, and in this state of efflorescence or powder, becoming 
more purgative than when in its crystalline form. The practitioner 
sometimes finds it a little difficult to calculate the amount of the dose 
which he should give, on account of this variation in form and effect ; 
and this may explain the occasional uncertainty of the Glauber's salts. 
The Epsom salts, a very little dearer, dissolving in its own weight of 
water, and retaining the same form and the same purgative power 
under every state of the atmosphere or of exposure to it, is now 
rapidly superseding the Glauber's. 

Chloride of Sodium. Common Salt. — The experience of almost 
every farmer will now confirm the benefit derived from the mixture 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 459 

of salt with the food of cattle. It appears to be the natural and 
universal stimulus to the digestive organs of animated beings. In 
this place, however, its medicinal power alone is the subject of con- 
sideration. It is a purgative, second to the Epsom salts in the first 
instance ; and, whether from the effect of the change of medicine, or 
of some chemical composition or decomposition which takes place, it 
is the surest aperient that can be given when the Epsom salts has 
failed ; but the writer does once more indignantly protest against the 
disgraceful, beastly menstruum in which it is frequently administered. 
It is a tonic as well as a purgative, and therefore perhaps somewhat 
objectionable in the early stage of fever. It frequently recalls the 
appetite more speedily than any stomachic. When a dose of it is 
given to the animal recovering from acute disease, debilitated, listless, 
careless about or refusing its food, it sometimes has an almost magi- 
cal effect in creating a disposition to feed. It is a vermifuge which, 
in cattle, seldom fails. 

Silver, Nitrate of. Lunar Caustic. — Used for the destruction 
of warts, either in its solid state, or that of a strong solution ; 
and, from the full command which the operator has over it, and the 
firm eschar which it forms, is the very best caustic that can be applied 
to a wound inflicted by the bite of a rabid dog. 

Sulphur. — A very good aperient when the object is merely to 
evacuate the bowels, or when there is any cutaneous affection ; but 
not sufficiently powerful in cases of fever : yet even there purgation, 
once established, may be kept up by means of it. The dose varies 
from eight to twelve ounces. As an alterative for hide-bound, mange, 
or generally unthrifty appearance, it is excellent combined with 
^Ethiop's mineral and nitre ; and it constitutes the basis of every 
ointment for the cure of mange. 

Tonics. — These are indicated in cases of great, and especially of 
chronic debility, but, administered injudiously, they have destroyed 
thousands of beasts. They have done so when they have been poured 
in while the fever continued, or too soon after the subsidence of the 
fever, and when too great a disposition to its reappearance prevailed. 
When disease has been once removed, the powers of nature are 
usually sufficient to re-establish health. Gentian, Colombo, and cas- 
carilla, are the best, and almost the only safe tonics for cattle. 

Turmeric, or colored pea-flour, for it is seldom anything more, is 
fit only to give that yellow color to cattle-medicines, which long usage 
has accustomed the cow-herd and the cow-leech to consider as indis- 
pensable. 

Turpentine. — Several of the products of the fir tree are more or 
less useful in the medical treatment of cattle. 

Tar, spread upon coarse cloth, is the best covering for broken 
horns, and excludes both the fly and the atmospheric air. It is use- 
ful for the same purpose in cases of wounds puncturing the belly or 



460 CATTLE. 

chest. Alone, or in combination with some greasy matter, it is used 
to defend sore diseased feet from becoming wet or bruised. 

Pitch is the principal ingredient in plasters. 

Common Liquid Turpentine is useful as a digestive, or to produce 
a healthy appearance or action in wounds, and dispose them to heal. 
For this purpose it is added to the linseed poultice or to the simple 
ointment. Some practitioners administer it as a diuretic, and with 
good effect. 

Oil, or Spirit of turpentine, is applied as an external irritant, 
either alone, or in the form of a tincture of cantharides. It is admin- 
istered internally in colic ; and some give it in red-water with a view 
to cause the debilitated blood-vessels to contract, and thus arrest the 
passive hcemorrhage which they imagine is then taking place. From 
the rapidity and great extent with which it is taken up by the absorb- 
ents, and carried into the circulation, and the destructive effect 
which it is known to have on intestinal worms when otherwise 
brought into contact with them, the trial of its power would be justi- 
fied in bronchitis, the too frequent and fatal concomitant of which is 
the presence of thousands of worms in the air-passages. 

Resin is often used to give consistence to plasters, where the 
degree of irration which it might produce is not regarded, or would 
be beneficial. 

Vinegar. — This used to be considered almost a specific in disten- 
sion of the rumen with gas, but on what principle it would be difficult 
to explain.* It has also been given with manifest impropriety in cases 
of fever. On the thick skin of the ox it can have little preference to 
hot water as a fomentation, and may with no great loss be erased 
from the list of medicines. 

Wax. — Its only use is to give consistence to ointments and plasters. 

Zinc. Native Carbonate of Calamine. — This is the basis of an 
ointment which, from its soothing, and, at the same time, drying 
qualities, is termed, in various parts of this work, " the healing oint- 
ment." It is useful in superficial wounds, and in deeper ones when 
they have been brought to a healthy character. 

White Vitriol. — This is a useful tonic application to the eyes, 
when the inflammation has been subdued, and debility of the vessels 
alone remains. It is particularly useful after inflammation of the haw 
of the eye. Some administer it in red- water, and others in dysentery 
very improperly. As a general caustic it is superseded by many 
others. 



INDEX 



Aberdeenshire cattle, description of the, 

52, 53, 54. 
Aberdeenshire cattle, origin of the present 

breed of, 53. 
Abomasum, the internal structure of, 286, 

288, 290, 293. 
Abomasum, diseases of the, 317. 
Abortion, the symptoms of, 382 
Abonion, the usual causes of, 383. 
Abortion, precautions to prevent the re- 
currence of, 386. 
Age, the natural, of cattle, 194. 
Age, as indicated by the horns, 150. 
Age, as indicated by the teeth, 188. 
Aislaby family of Durham and Studley, 

112. 
Alderney cattle, account of them, 138. 
Althorp, Lord, cut of his bull, 109. 
Althorp, Lord, cuts of his cow and heifer, 

106, 107. 
Aloes, not a good purgative for cattle, 

447. 
Alteratives, their nature, and the best 

composition of them, 44S. 
Alum, the medicinal properties of, 448. 
Ammonia, the medicinal properties of, 

449. 
Anglesey cattle, description of, 39. 
Angus polled cattle, 71. 
Angus polled cattle, difference between 

them and the Galloways, 72 
Antimony, the medicinal properties of, 

Apoplexy, symptoms and treatment of, 
164. 

Argyleshire, description of the cattle, and 
their management, 47. 

Arteries, their structure and functions, 
222. 

Arteries, the smallness of, in the ox, com- 
pared with the veins, 217. 

Astringents, the best for cattle, 449. 

Ayrshire cow, Mr. Alton's description of 
her, 55. 

Ayrshire cow, origin of, 56, 57. 

Ayrshire cow, the present, 59. J 



Ayrshire cow, compared with the Alder- 
ney, Holderness, and Devon, 60. 

Ayrshire cow, the quantity of her milk, 
and the quantity of butter, 59, 60. 

Badsworth, Mr. Mitton's old bull, de- 
scription of, 126. 

Bake well, Mr , the great improver of the 
long horns, 83. 

Bakewell, Mr., his supposed principles, as 
stated by Mr. Marshall, 84. 

Bakewell, Mr., description of his cattle, 
85. 

Bakewell, Mr., his benevolent character, 
85. 

Barbs in the mouth, treatment of, 206. 

Bars of the mouth, description of, 186. 

Berry, the Rev. H., his account of the 
short horns, 95. 

Bile, the composition and uses of, 320, 331, 

Black water, the nature and treatment of, 
373. 

Bladder, inversion of the, 381. 

Bladder, protrusion of, treatment of, 398. 

Bladder, on rupture of the, 380. 

Bladder, stone in the, symptoms and treat- 
ment of, 378. 

Blain, the symptoms and treatment of,196. 

Blain, contagious, 197. 

Blain, sometimes epidemic, 197. 

Bleeding, the rule by which it should be 
guided, 218. 

Bleeding, places, the preferable, 218 

Blisters, the difficulty of raising them in 
cattle, 266. 

Blood, determination of to the brain, 163. 

Blown — See " Hoove." 

Bloxedge, the sire of the long-horns, an 
account of him, 83. 

Bolinbroke, an early short-horn bull, an 
account of him, 99. 

Bone of the heart, description of the, 222. 

Brain, description of the, 153. 

Brain, inflammation of the, 164. 

Brain, hydatids in the, 162. 

Breast bone, description of the, 238. 



INDEX. 



Breast, the projecting and wide, advan- 
tage of, 237, 238. 

Brisket, description of the, 239. 

Brisket, remarkable deepness of, in some 
cattle, 240. 

British cattle, early history of, 11. 

British cattle, the original were probably 
middle-horned, 13. 

Bronchitis, nature and treatment of, 262. 

Bronchitis, the air-passages filled with 
worms in, 263. 

Butter, experiments to ascertain the vari- 
ous quantities of, from different breeds, 
133. 

C^cum, description of the, 330, 332. 
Caesarian operation, description of, and 

when justifiable, 393. 
Calamine, the basis of the best healing 

ointment for, 450. 
Calculi in the rumen of cattle, 299, 360, 
Calculi in the kidney, composition, symp- 
toms, and treatment of, 377. 
Calculi, urinary, ditto, 378. 
Colombo, a useful tonic, 450. 
Calomel, the cases in which it should be 

used, 450. 
Calves, diseases and management of, 421. 
Calving, the treatment of the cow before 

it, 387. 
Calving, natural, the treatment of, 388. 
Calving, the power of ergot of rye in ex- I 

citing the labor pains, 389. 
Calving, the management of unnatural 

presentations, 391. 
Calving, when the calf should be cut away, 

and description of the operation, 395. 
Calving, on retention of the foetus, 398. 
Calving, attention to the cow after it, 399. 
Camphor, its medicinal properties, 450 
Cancer of the eye, treatment of, 162. 
Cantharides, the basis of the best blister 

application, 450. 
Capillary vessels, description of them, 223. 
Carotid artery, description of the, 205, 

, 206 - 

Carraway, a useful aromatic, 450. 

Castor oil, the use of it as a medicine, 450. 

Castration of calves, the various methods 
of, 426. 

Castration will often remove rupture in 
the calf, 364. 

Cataract, treatment of, 162. 

Catarrh, nature and treatment of, 246. 

Catarrh, the necessity of attention to it 
on its first appearance, 247. 

Catarrh, epidemic, symptoms of, 247. 

Catechu, its useful astringent properties, 
450. 

Cattle, the proper points of, generally, 16, 

Cattle, wild, account of, 11, 12. 

Caustics, those used in cattle practice, 
450. 

Chalk, its utility in the treatment of dy- 
sentery and diarrhoea, 346, 451. 

Chamomile, its tonic properties, 451. 



Charge, Mr., an account of his fat seven- 
year-old ox, 104. 

Charges, the use of, and the method of 
applying, 451. 

Chest, the advantage of a capacious one 
in cattle, 16. 

Chest, the proper form of, 236. 

Chloride of lime, the value of, 308, 455. 

Choking in cattle, treatment of, 279,281. 

Chyle, its nature and formation, 331. 

Cleansing. — See Placenta. 

Cleansing drink, the best, 400. 

Clue-bound, treatment of, 313, 314 

Clysters, the benefit of, 451. 

Coates, Mr. G., the author of the " Short- 
Horned Herd Book," 102. 

Colic, flatulent, its symptoms, nature, and 
treatment, 348. 

Colic, spasmodic, its symptoms, nature, 
and treatment, 350. 

Colic, spasmodic, too eften leads on to 
strangulation of the intestines, 350. 

Colling, Mr. Charles, 97. 

Colling, Mr. Charles, an account of the 
cross of his cattle with the Galloway, 

Colling, Mr. Charles, a detailed account 
of his sale of the improved short-horns, 
100. 

Colling, Robert, a successful improver of 
the short-horns, 110. 

Colling, Robert, the sale of his stock, 109. 

Colon, description of the, 330, 332. 

Colors, the prevailing ones of short-horns. 
109. 

Constipation, the treatment of, 355, 423. 

Consumption, nature and treatment, 272. 

Consumption, the peculiar cough of, 274. 

Consumption, delusive character and pro- 
gress of, 274. 

Copper, the compounds of, used in cattle 
practice, 451. 

Cordials, the use and abuse of, 452. 

'Cords, the nature and treatment of, 351. 

Cork-screw probang, description of the, 
282. 

Corrosive sublimate, its use in cattle prac- 
tice, 452. 

Corrosive sublimate, the treatment of poi- 
soning by, 311. 

Coryza, the nature and treatment of, 182. 

Cow-pox, distinction between the true and 
the false, 420. 

Cow-pox, history of its establishment as 
a preventive against small-pox, 420. 

Craven, the native couutry of the long- 
horns, 81. 

Cravens, two distinct breeds of, the small- 
er and larger, 81. 

Croton, a powerful purgative, 452. 

Cud, loss of the, treatment of, 309. 

D, Mr. Bakewell's bull, account of, 86. 
Derbyshire cattle, account of, 93. 
Devon cattle, 15. 
Devon cattle, for the dairy, 23. 



; 



INDEX. 



463 



Devon ox, his activity his most valuable 
quality, 22. 

Devon ox, his qualities for grazing, 23. 

Devon ox, trial of his fattening properties 
with different breeds, 69, 70. 

Devon, South, the cattle of, 24, 25. 

Devon, South, comparison between them 
and the Devons, 25. 

Diaphragm, rupture of the, 365. 

Diarrhoea, acute, the nature and treat- 
ment of, 338. 

Diarrhoea, distinction between it and dy- 
sentery, 338. 

Diarrhoea, chronic, the nature and treat- 
ment of, 339. 

Diarrhoea in calves, nature and treatment 
of, 424. 

Digitalis, its medicinal properties, 452. 

Distension of the rumen by food, nature 
and treatment of, 301. 

Distension of the rumen by gas, nature 
and treatment of, 303. 

Dropsy, general remarks on the causes and 
treatment of, 358. 

Drying a cow, the proper period for, 388. 

Duodenum, description of the, 330. 

Durham ox, an account of the, 98. 

Dysentery, causes and symptoms of, 340. 

Dysentery, appearances of, after death, 
342. 

Dysentery is inflammation of the mucous 
membrane of the large intestines, 343. 

Dysentery, treatment of it, 342. 

Dysentery, the value of the chloride of 
lime in the treatment of it, 345. 

Ear, description of the, 154. 

Ear, the form and shape of, connected 
with the beauty of the animal, 154. 

Ear, the diseases of the, 154. 

Earth, the eating of it, prevents the fer- 
mentation of the food, 187. 

East Indian cattle, an account of the, 149. 

Elder, the leaves of, make a good soothing 
ointment, 453. 

Embryotomy, when justifiable, and a de- 
scription of the operation, 395. 

Emetic, tartar, the use of, 449. 

Enteritis, symptoms of, 334. 

Enteritis, appearances after death, 335. 

Enteritis, causes and treatment of, 336. 

Epidemic catarrh. — See Catarrh. 

Epidemics. — See Murrain. 

Epidemic sore feet and mouth of 1840 and 
1841, 256. 

Epilepsy, the treatment of, 171. 

Epsom salt, the best purgative, 453. 

Ergot of r3 r e, its power in stimulating the 
womb to action, 389. 

Exeter, description of the vale of. 25. 

Eye, general description of the, 156. 

Eye, inflammation of the, the nature and 
treatment of, 159. 

Eye, worm in the, treatment of, 162. 

Eye, wounds of the, management of, 156 

Eyelids, description of the, 157. 



Eyelids, diseases of the, 157. 

Farcy in cattle, 183. 

Fardel-bound, description of it, 313. 

Feet, the, description of, 143. 

Feet, diseases of the, 432, 433. 

Feet, epidemic sore, of 1840, and '41, 256. 

Fever, intermittent, its symptoms and 
treatment, 225. 

Fever, pure or idiopathic, often exist does 
in cattle, 224. 

Fever, pure or idiopathic, its symptoms 
and treatment, 224. 

Fever, symptomatic, frequent and danger- 
ous, 225. 

Fever, inflammatory, its nature and treat- 
ment, 225. 

Fever, typhus, its nature and treatment, 
233. 

Firing, an advantageous mode of, for some 
bony tumors, 156. 

Fits, the treatment of, 171. 

Flooding after calving, treatment of, 401. 

Fluke-worm, the, a cause of jaundicej 326. 

Foetus, retention of it for a long time 
without injury, 398. 

Food, its changes in the stomachs, 294. 

Food, how conveyed into the reticulum, 
295. 

Forehead of a bull, the, should be short 
and broad, 145. 

Forehead of the Devon, description of, 18. 

Foul in the foot, description of, 433. 

Foul in the foot, most prevalent in low, 
marshy countries, 434. 

Foul in the foot, mode of treatment of, 434. 

Foul in the foot, probable advantages of 
neurotomy in, 437. 

Fowler, Mr., an improver of the long- 
horns, 86. 

Fowler, Mr., account of the sale of his 
stock, 87. 

Free-martins, usually barren, 392. 

Free-martins, dissection of three, 393. 

Free-martins, a few cases in which they 
have bred, 393. 

Frontal sinuses, description of, 143, 144. 

Frontal sinuses, use of the, 145, 146. 

Frontal sinuses, inflammation of the, na- 
ture and treatment of, 146. 

Frontal sinuses, worms in the, 147. 

Gall-bladder, the structure and use of, 

320. 
Gall-stones, their composition, 324. 
Gall-stones, frequent cause of jaundice, 

325. 
Galloway, the greater part of the cattle 

were horned at the middle of the last 

century, 63. 
Galloway, the present breed of, 63, 64. 
Galloways, Mr. Culley's description of, 

66. 
Galloway cows not good milkers, 67. 
Galloway bull, a perfect one seldom found, 



464 



INDEX. 



Galloways cows occasionally have horns, 

151. 
Gangrenous inflammation of the lungs, 

symptoms and treatment of, 268. 
Garget, the cause of, 408, 409, 410. 
Garget, the efficacy of iodine in, 409, 410. 
Garget, the state of the veins of the udder 

in, 236. 
Gas, the kind of, extricated in hoove, 

307. 
Gentian, the best tonic, 453. 
Ginger, the best aromatic, 453. 
Girth, the, of cattle, should be both deep 

and wide, 16. 
Glamorganshire cattle, early history of, 

37. 
Glamorganshire cattle, deteriorated when 

they were neglected for the growth of 

corn, 38. 
Glanders in cattle, on, 183. 
Glauber's salt, inferior to the Epsom, 453. 
Gloss-anthrax, the symptoms and treat- 
ment of, 196. 
Gutta serena, cause and treatment of, 162. 
Gut-tie, the nature and treatment of, 351. 

Hair, cattle should be covered with a 

thick pile of, 17. 
Haunch, description of the, 143. 
Haw, description of the, 158. 
Haw, inflammation of the, 158. 
Haw, method of extirpating the, 151. 
Head, section of the, 144. 
Heart, description of the, 220, 221. 
Heart, theory of its action, 221. 
Heart, the muscular columns and tendi- 
nous cords of it stronger in the ox than 

the horse, 221. 
Heart, a muscle running across the right 

ventricle, peculiar to the ox, 222. 
Heart, description of the bone of it, 222. 
Hebrides, history and description of the, 

41. 
Hebrides history, disgraceful management 

of cattle formerly, 43. 
Hebrides, accounts of the misery of the 

cattle in the winter, 43. 
Hebrides, present management, 44. 
Hebrides, no crosses with any other breed 

have succeeded in these islands, 45. 
Hebrides, 20,000 cattle annually exported 

from them, 46. 
Hebrides, the outer, description of the 

cattle of, 46. 
Hellebore, black, makes the best seton, 

453. 
Hemlock, the treatment of poisoning by, 

110. 
Hemorrhage from the nose, on, 181. 
Hemorrhage after parturition, the treat- 
ment of, 401. 
Herd-book, the short-homed, compiled by 

Mr. G. Coates, 102. 
Hereford cattle, description of the, 29. 
Hereford cattle, comparison between 

them and the Devons, 29. 



Hereford cattle, their propensity to fatten, 
29. 

Hereford cattle, comparison between the 
old and new breeds, 29. 

Hereford cattle, have been crossed with 
advantage by the Devons, 30. 

Hereford cow, inferior in shape to the ox, 
31. 

Hereford cow, not good for dairy, 30, 32. 

Hernia, the nature and treatment of, 
361. 

Hernia in calves, management of, 363. 

Hide of cattle, should be thin, mellow, 
and not too loose, 17. 

Hide-bound, the treatment of, 438. 

Hips, the, of cattle should be large and 
round, 17. 

Hock, description of the, 143. 

Holderness cattle, the old, 135. 

Holderness cattle, their improvement, 136. 

Honeycomb. — See Reticulum. 

Hooped form of the barrel, in cattle, im- 
portance of, 16. 

Horns, description of the. 143. 

Horns are elongations of, and hollowed 
like, the frontal bones, 148. 

Horns, the different breeds of cattle dis- 
tinguished by, 13, 151. 

Horns, the influence of sex on the, 151. 

Horns, as connected with the age of the 
beast, 150. 

Horns, the danger of cutting them, 147. 

Horns, fracture of them, how treated, 149. 

Horns, the degree of fever, how estimated 
by means of them, 150. 

Horns, tenderness of the roots accounted 
for, 151. 

Horned and hornless breeds, comparison 
between them, 152. 

Horny covering, composition and growth 
of the, 150. 

Hoose. — See Catarrh. 

Hoose, in calves, the treatment of, 425. 

Hoove, the cause of, 303. 

Hoove, symptoms and treatment of, 303. 

Hoove, medicines administered in, do not 
enter the stomach, 304. 

Hoove, objections to puncturing the ru- 
men in, 305. 

Hoove, danger of a large incision, 306. 

Hoove, when the rumen is punctured, it 
should be with a trocar and canula, 306. 

Hoove, the use of the probang, or stomach- 
pump, recommended, 306. 

Hoove, the nature of the gas which is ex- 
tricated in, 307. 

Hoove, the treatment of, when the gas 
has escaped, 308. 

flowick red ox, an account of, 104. 

Hubback, the father of the improved 
short-horns, account of him, 97. 

Hydatids in the brain, symptoms and 
treatment of, 162. 

Hydatids, numerous, found in the liver of 
a cow, 322. 

Hydrocephalus, treatment of, 163. 



INDEX. 



465 



Ileum, description of the, 330, 331. 

In-and-in, the principle of breeding 
adopted by Bakewell, 85. 

Inflammation, the nature and general 
treatment of, 223. 

Inflammatory fever, causes, symptoms, 
and prevention of, 225. 

Inflammatory fever, treatment of, 229. 

Intestines, description of the. 329. 

Intestines, the diseases of the, 333. 

Intestines, inflammation of the external 
coat of the. — See Enteritis. 

Intestines, inflammation of the mucous 
coat of. — See Diarrhoea and Dysentery. 

Inversion of the rectum, 354. 

Inversion of the womb, 395. 

Iodine, the admirable use of, 454. 

Ireland, the establishment of the short- 
horns in, 80. 

Irish cattle, the middle-horns an aborigi- 
nal breed, 77 

Irish cattle, long-horns, probably derived 
from Lancashire, 78. 

Irish cattle, long-horns, two different 
kinds of, 80. 

Jaundice, causes of, symptoms and treat- 
ment, 323. 

Jejunum, description of the, 330, 331. 

Jenner, Dr., his discovery of the pre- 
ventive power of the cow-pox, 420. 

Joint murrian, its treatment, 226. 

Joints opened, the treatment of, 431. 

Joints, swellings of them, the causes and 
treatment of, 429. 

Jugular vein, description of the, 204. 

Kerry, the cow of, description of, 78. 

Kidneys, anatomical structure of the, 36G. 

Kidneys, inflammation of the, causes, 
symptoms, and treatment of, 374. 

Kidneys, calculi in, symptoms and treat- 
ment of, 377. 

Kintore ox, 53. 

Knee, description of the, 143. 

Kyloe, origin of the term, 42. 

Larynoites, the treatment of, 259. 

Lead, the usual preparations of, 455 

Legs, the, of cattle should be short, 17. 

Leicester new breed, inquiry into the 
value of, 88. 

Leicester new breed, improved the whole 
breed of long-horns, 89 

Leicester new breed, superseded by the 
short-horns, 92. 

Lice, how produced, and the method of 
destroying them, 442. 

Lime, the chloride of, an excellent disin- 
fectant, 231. 

Lincolnshire cattle, description of, 136. 

Linseed, experiments on its fattening pro- 
perties, 71. 

Linseed meal, excellent for poultices, 455. 

Linseed oil, a good purgative, 456. 

Lips, description and use of, 185. 
20* 



Lip, upper, the use of the numerous glands 
in, 186. 

Liquids, the circumstances under which 
they enter the rumen, 297. 

Liver, the structure and functions of, 320. 

Liver, on inflammation of the, 321. 

Liver, the difficulty of detecting chronic 
inflammation of, 322. 

Liver, on hemorrhage from it, 322. 

Long-horns, the, appear to have origi- 
nated in Craven, 81. 

Long-horns, two distinct breeds of, the 
smaller and the larger, 81. 

Long-horns, the history of the improve- 
ment of, 83. 

Loss of cud, nature and treatment of, 309. 

Loss of cud. more a symptom of disease 
than a separate disease, 309. 

Lungs, the, their structure, 245, 264. 

Lungs, inflammation of, sj-mptoms and 
treatment of, 264 

Lungs, inflammation of, acute and epi- 
demic, its occasional devastations, 267. 

Madness, causes and treatment of, 177. 

Mange, the nature and treatment of, 439. 

Manvplus, internal construction of the, 
288, 289, 292. 

Manyplus, the manner in which it reduces 
the food to a pulpy mass. 298. 

Manyplus, the diseases of, 313. 

Manyplus, the occasional strangely hard- 
ened state of its contents, 314. 

Meath, the improvement of Irish cattle 
commenced in, 79. 

Mercury, the different preparations of it 
used, 456. 

Mesenteric glands, their structure and 
use, 333. 

Mesenteric glands, enlargement of them, 
333. 

Mesentery, description of the, 330, 331. 

Middle-horns, the, were probably the ori- 
ginal cattle, 13. 

Milk, the average quantity of, yielded by 
the Yorkshire cow, 133. 

Milk fever, its nature and treatment, 401. 

Milk fever, the importance of purging in, 
403, 405. 

Milk vein, description of the, 210, 219. 

Milk vein, importance of a large one, 132- 

Moor-ill, the nature and treatment of, 336. 

Motor organic nerves, account of the, 205. 

Mouth, account of the bones of the, 184. 

Mouth, epidemic sore, 256. 

Murrain, the nature, symptoms, and 
treatment of, 252. 

Nagore cattle, an account of, 141. 
Navel-ill, the nature and treatment of, 

422 
Neck of cattle, description of, 201, 208, 

211, 212, 214, 215. 
Nerves of the leg, cuts of, 176. 
Net or knot, the nature and treatment of, 

350. 



466 



INDEX. 



Neurotomy might be practised on cattle, 

174. 
Neurotomy, the probable advantage of it 

in foul in the foot, 437. 
Neurotomy, description of the operation, 

175. 
Neurotomy, cuts illustrative of, 176. 
Nitre, its value in cattle practice, 457. 
Nitrous ether, spirit of it, when useful, 

457. 
Norfolk, the native cattle of, 74. 
Norfolk polled cattle, their origin, 74. 
Nose, bleeding from the, 181. 
Nose, leeches in the, 182. 
Nose, polypus in the, 182. 
Nose, its membrane, inflammation of, 182. 

O'Callaghan, Col., 131. 
CEsophagean canal, cuts of it, 2S6, 288. 
CEsophagus, the structure of, 278, 291. 
CEsophagus, obstruction in the, treatment 

of, 279. 
CEsophagus, the manner of opening in 

choking, 281. 
CEsophagus, rupture of the, 285 
CEsophagus, stricture of the, 284. 
CEstrus bovis, the history of its several 

states, 443. 
Opened joints, the treatment of, 431. 
Ophthalmia, its nature and treatment, 

159. 
Opium, the best anodyne, antispasmodic 

and astringent, 457. 
Ox, zoological description of, 9. 
Ox, British, early history of, 11. 

Pad on the upper jaw, description and use 

of the, 186. 
Palsy, causes and treatment of, 172. 
Pancreas, the structure, functions, and 

diseases of, 328. 
Pantas, the nature and treatment of, 336. 
Papilla) of the rumen, description of 

them, and of their uses, 295. 
Paps in the mouth, treatment of, 206. 
Parotid glands, inflammation of the, 

symptoms and treatment of, 205. 
Parturition. — See Calving. 
Paunch. — See Rumen. 
Pembrokeshire cattle, description of, 37. 
Pericardium, inflammation of the, 220. 
Pericardium, the, often penetrated by 

sharp substances that have been taken 

into the rumen, 220. 
Pharyngites, the symptoms and treatment 

of, 258. 
Pharynx, description of the, 207. 
Pharynx, inflammation of the, 258. 
Pharynx, the mode of puncturing it in 

abscess situated there, 260. 
Phrenzy, symptoms and treatment of, 164. 
Phthisis. — See Consumption. 
Placenta, the intention of it, in abortion, 

386. 
Placenta, the, should be discharged soon 

after calvir.g, 400. 



Placenta, method of separating it from 
the womb, 400. 

Pleurisy, its symptoms and treatment, 271. 

Pleuro-pneumonia, 267, 270. 

Pneumonia, the symptoms and treatment 
of, 264. 

Pneumonia, acute and epidemic, 267. 

Points of cattle, a description of the prin- 
cipal, 16. 

Poisons, a list of the various, and the 
mode of treating them, 310. 

Polled cattle, an account of the, 63. 

Polled and homed cattle, a comparison 
between them, 152. 

Polypus in the nose, on, 1S2. 

Poultices, when useful, 45S. 

Probang, the use of, in hoove, recom- 
mended, 306. 

Pregnancy, the usual period of, 3S2. 

Pregnancy, symptoms of, 387. 

Presentation, natural, the management 
of, 389 

Presentation, unnatural, do., 391. 

Puncturing the rumen in hoove, objec- 
tions to, 305. 

Puerperal Fever. — See Milk Fever. 

Pulse, cause of the, 223. 

Pulse, importance of attention to the, 223. 

Purging cattle, the occasional difficulty 
of, accounted for, 296, 357. 

Purging cattle, the method of proceeding 
when this occurs, 296, 357. 

Quarters, importance of their being long 

and full, 20. 
Quarter-evil, its nature and treatment, 

225. 

Rabies, the causes and symptoms of, 177. 

Rectum, description of the, 330, 332. 

Rectum, the treatment of inversion of, 
354. 

Red-water, the nature and causes of, 367. 

Red- water has more to do with the diges- 
tive organs and the food than any other 
cause, 368. 

Red-water is most frequent in low marshy 
woody countries, 368. 

Red-water, acute, the nature and treat- 
ment of, 368. 

Red-water, the importance of bleeding 
and purging in, 369. 

Red-water, chronic, the nature and treat- 
ment of 370. 

Reticulum, the interior construction of it. 
287, 289, 292. 

Reticulum, the action of it in the return 
of the food to the stomach, 287, 275. 

Reticulum, the diseases of the, 312 

Rheumatism, the cause and treatment of, 
428. 

Ribs, the number and proper form of, 236. 

Ribbed home, the importance of being, 
76. 

Rings, the, on the horn, as indicating the 
age, 150. 



INDEX. 



467 



Rings, the, on the horn, as indicating the 

age, uncertainty of, 150. 
Rottenness. — See Dysentery. 
Rumen, the, viewed externally, 2S5, 2S6. 
Rumen, the, viewed internally, 288, 290. 
Rumen, general description of it, 288, 291. 
Rumen, description of its papillae, and 

their uses, 291. 
Rumen, the fluid swallowed sometimes 

enters it, 296, 357. 
Rumen, this accounts for the occasional 

difficulty of purging cattle, 296, 357. 
Rumen, an account of the diseases of it, 

299. 
Rumen, the strange substances often found 

in it, 299. 
Rumen, calculi in the, symptoms of, 299. 
Rumen, calculi in, the effect of, 300- 
Rumen, distensions of it by food, the 

symptoms and treatment of, 301. 
Rumen, distension of it by gas, 303. 
Rumen, inflammation of the, 310. 
Rumination, description of it, 298. 
Rupture of the parietes of the abdomen. 

— See Hernia. 
Rupture of the bladder, symptoms of, 380, 
Rupture of the oesophagus, treatment of, 

285. 
Rupture of the womb, treatment of, 379. 
Rye, ergot of, its' use in parturition, 458. 

Salivary glands, description of the, 201. 
Salt, its use in food as a medicine, 458. 
Sapped. — See Constipation. 
Saphena vein, the, when it should be 

opened, 218 
Septum, the nasal, why not perfect in the 

ox, 180. 
Setons, their occasional use, 458. 
Shetland Islands, general description of 

them, 51. 
Shetland Islands, description of the cattle 

there, 51. 
Shetland Islands, treatment of the cattle, 

52. 
Shoot of blood, its nature and treatment, 

Shooting. — See Dysentery. 

Short-horns, the, history of, 95. 

Short-horns, supposed to be originally im- 
ported from the Continent, 96. 

Short-horns, description of the old ones, 
95. 

Short-horns, the commencement of their 
improvement, 96. 

Short-horns, the mode in which their im- 
provement was effected, 96. 

Short-horns, their excellence consists in a 
combination of qualities before believed 
to be incompatible, 95. 

Short-horns, the question of their capacity 
for work, 108. 

Short-horns, their early maturity should 
preclude their being put to work, 103. 

Short-horned bulls, the advantage of 
crossing different breeds with them, 108. 



Short-horns, the prevailing colors of, 109. 
Short-horned cow, her milking qualities, 

Short-sighted, many cattle appear to be, 

Shoulders, a slanting direction of them, 

the importance of, 19. 
Shropshire cattle, the old, 94. 
Shropshire cattle, the cross between them 

and the Holderness, 94. 
Silver, nitrate of, its use as a caustic, 459. 
Skeleton of the ox, cut of the, 143. 
Skin, the cause and importance of its soft 

mellow feeling, 43S. 
Skin, diseases of the, 438. 
Skull, cavity of the, cut of, 144. 
Skull, fracture of the, treatment of, 162. 
Skull, fracture of, almost invariably fatal, 

162. " 

Slinking. — See Abortion. 
Smelling, on the sense of, ISO. 
Soft palate, description of the, 337. 
Sore teats, treatment of, 408. 
Sore throat, the symptoms and treatment 

of, 258. 
Spinal cord, the comparative smallness of, 

accounted for, 154. 
Spine, 241. 
Spleen, structure and function of the, 

319. 
Spleen, haemorrhage from the, 319. 
Sprain in the leg and foot, symptoms and 

treatment of, 432. 
Stephenson, Mr., 114. 
Sternum, description of the, 237. 
Sternum, the width of the, sometimes 
compensates for flatness of the sides, 
241. 
Stimulants, the propriety of admistering, 
when it is difficult to purge cattle, 297. 
Stomachs of cattle, cuts of them, 285, 286, 

288, 291. 
Stomach pump, the use of it in hoove re- 
commended, 306. 
Stone in the bladder, symptoms and treat- 
ment of, 378. 
Stone in the kidneys, ditto and ditto, 377. 
Stone in the ureters, ditto and ditto, 377. 
Stone in the urethra, ditto, 379. 
Strangulation of the intestines, symptoms 

and treatment of, 350. 
Strangullion, description of it, 205. 
Stricture of the oesophagus, treatment of, 

234. 
Subcutaneous abdominal vein, the ques- 
tion when it should be bled from, 219. 
Subcutaneous abdominal vein, the ana- 
tomy of it, 219. 
Sublingual glands, description of the, 207. 
Submaxillary v 3in, description of the, 204. 
Submaxillary artery, ditto, 205. 
Suffolk cattle, were originally duns, 75. 
Suffolk cattle, description of the, 75. 
Suffolk cattle, milking properties of, 75. 
Suffolk cattle, the bull cast off far too 
early, 75. 



468 



INDEX. 



Sulphur, an excellent purgative and alter- 
ative, 459. 

Sussex oxen, description of the, 33. 

Sussex oxen, resemblance and difference 
between them and the Devons, 33, 34. 

Sussex oxen, ditto, Herefords, 33, 34. 

Sussex cow, description of her, 34. 

Sussex cow, not good for the dairy, 35. 

Sweetbread, description of the, 244. 

Swelling of the joints, the causes and 
treatment of, 429. 

Tail, description of the hones of the, 143. 
Tail, should be level with the bones of the 

back, 20. 
Tankerville, Lord, account of the wild 

cattle in his park, 12. 
Tape-worm, an account of the, 358. 
Tapping in dropsy, a description of the 

operation, 360. 
Tar, its use in cattle practice, 459. 
Taunton, the vale of, description of the 

cattle in, 26. 
Tavistock, the South Devons purest 

about, 24. 
Teeth, the form and structure of them, in 

ruminants, 187. 
Teeth, regarded as indicating the age, 

18S. 
Teeth, cuts of them, at different ages, 188, 

189, &c. 
Teeth, curious process of diminution of, 

commencing at three months, 190. 
Teeth, when the mouth can be said to be 

full of, 192. 
Teeth, the grinders, the age imperfectly 

estimated by, 194. 
Tempest, Sir H. Vane, first introduced the 

short-horns into Ireland, 80. 
Temporal artery, description of the, 205. 
Temporal hone, description of the, 143, 

153, 184. 
Temporal vein, description of the, 204. 
Tetanus, symptoms and treatment of, 167. 
Thighs, they should be full, long, and 

close together when viewed from be- 
hind, 17. 
Thigh-bone, description of the, 143. 
Thrush in the mouth, symptoms and 

treatment of, 200. 
Thymus gland, description of the, 244. 
Tibia, or leg-bone, description of the, 143. 
Tipperary, description of the cattle in, 78. 
Tongue, description of it and its uses, 

193. 
Tonics, when admissible in the treatment 

of distemper, 347, 459. 
Torsion, the method of castration by, 427. 
Trachea, description of the, 243. 
Tracheotomy, description of the operation 

of, 243. 
Tracheotomy, cases in which it should be 

performed, 243. 
Trotter, Col., 120. 

Tumors, bony, about the eye, manage- 
ment of, 156. 



Tumors, bony, about the eye, an advan- 
tageous way of firing, 156. 

Turpentine, liquid, its uses as a digestive 
and a diuretic, 460. 

Turpentine, oil of, its medicinal use, 460, 

Turpentine, oil of, might possibly destroy 
the worms in the bronchial tubes, 249. 

Typhus fever, nature of the, 233. 

Typhus fever frequently follows inflam- 
matory fever, 233. 

Typhus fever, symptoms of, 233. 

Typhus fever, treatment of, 234. 

Typhus fever, the kind of cattle most sub- 
ject to it, 234. 

Typhus fever, prevention of, 235. 

Twopenny, Mr. BakewelPs bull, account 
of, 86. 

Udder, description of the, 132. 

Ulcers, fetid, use of chloride of lime for, 
231. 

Upper jaw-bone, description of the, 143, 
180, 184. 

Ureters, description of the, 375. 

Ureters, stone in the, symptoms and treat- 
ment of, 377. 

Urethra, description of its curve, 376. 

Urethra, stone in the, symptoms and 
treatment of, 379, 

Urinary calculi, symptoms of their pres- 
ence, 376. 

Urinary calculi, composition of, 376. 

Urus, account of the ancient, 10. 

Veins, the largeness of, in the ox, com- 
pared with the arteries, 235. 

Veins, description of the, 235. 

Veins, varicose, the nature and treatment 
of, 236. 

Verdigris, its use in cattle practice, 452. 

Vertebrae of the spine, description of, 143. 

Vinegar, of little use in cattle practice. 
460. 

Vitriol, white, the use of, 460. 

Waistell, Mr. , once owner of Hubback, 
98. 

Waistell, Mr., account of his fat four- 
year-old ox, 103. 

Waistell, Mr. Wm., of Burdon, 119. 

Waller, Mr., the first improver of Irish 
cattle, 80. 

Warbles, how produced, 443. 

Warbles, history of the fly and its several 
states, 443, 

Warts, their nature and treatment, 445. 

Water in the head, symptoms and treat- 
ment of, 163. 

Webster, Mr., of Canley, an improver of 
the long-horns, 83. 

Welby, a farrier, stands first among the 
improvers of the long-horns, 83. 

West Highland cattle, the points in which 
they are valuable, 43. 

West Highland cattle, the secret of profit- 
ably breeding and grazing them, 50. 



INDEX. 



469 



Wild cattle, account of, 12. 

Wind-pipe, description of the, 243. 

Withers, hollowness behind them, disad- 
vantage of, 19. 

Womb, inversion of the, treatment of, 
395. 

Womb, rupture of the, ditto, 397. 

Wood-evil, nature and treatment of, 336. 

Worms in the frontal siuuses of cattle, 
147. 

Worms in the eye, treatment of, 162. 

Worms, an account of the various intesti- 
nal ones, 357. 

Wounds of the eye, management of, 
156. 

Yellows, the (see Jaundice,) 323. 

Yew, the, treatment of poisoning by, 
310. 

Yorkshire cow, the history of the establish- 
ment of the present one, 131. 

Yorkshire cow, description of her, 131. 



Yorkshire cow, average quantity of milk 
yielded by her, 133. 

Yorkshire cow, the question of the aver- 
age quantity of butter, 133. 

Yorkshire, North Riding, description of 
the cattle, 135, 

Yorkshire, North Riding, the native cat- 
tle of were long-horns, 135. 

Yorkshire, North Riding, account of the 
first Holderness established there, 435. 

Yorkshire, North Riding, history of their 
improvement, 136. 

Yorkshire, North Riding, general man- 
agement of, 136. 

Yorkshire, West Riding, 136. 

Zinc, the preparations of it which are 

used medicinally, 460. 
Zygomatic arch, the peculiar construction 

of it in the ox, 148. 
Zygomaticus muscle, description of the, 

208. 



I 



CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 



FOR PRACTICAL MEN, 



PUBLISHED BY 



C. M. SAXTON, 



FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 




ALSO FOR SALE BY 

Van Nostrand & Tekrett, New York; Redding & Co., Boston; 

Lindsay & Blakiston, Phila. ; Morris & Brother, Richmond, Va. ; 

H. W. Derby & Co., Cincinnati; Plant & Brother, St. Louis; 

S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago, 111.; I. A. Hopkins, Milwaukie ; 

G. H. Derby & Co., Buffalo, N. Y. ; D. Hoyt, Rochester, N. Y. ; 

Derby & Miller, Auburn, N. Y.; Wynkoop & Brother, 

Syracuse, N. Y. ; E. H. Pease & Co., Albany, N. Y. ; 

Hawley, Fuller & Co., Ulica, N- Y. 

E. Whitman Jr., Baltimore. 






GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE, 

OB POOR MAN'S FRIEND ; IN THE HOURS OF AFFLICTION FAM 

AND SICKNESS, A SAFE AND RELIABLE GUIDE. 

Raymond's copy, price three dollars. 

This Book points out in plain language, free from doctors' terms the Diseases 
of Men, Women, and Children, and the latest and most improved means used in 
their cure ; and is intended expressly for the benefit of families. It also contains 
descriptions of the Medical Roots and Herbs of the United States, and how 
they are to be used in the cure of diseases. It is arranged on a new and simple 
plan, by which the practice of Medicine is reduced to principles of common 
sense. 

This invaluable book has passed through many editions ; it has now been re- 
vised and improved in every respect, and enlarged to nearly double its former 
size ; and contains nine hundred octavo pages. 

It does not propose to dispense with physicians in severe cases. But it does 
propose to save thousands and tens of thousands annually, by putting the means 
of cure into every man's hands, and of saving many valuable lives (which is of 
far more importance) by instructing individuals how to check disease in its begin- 
nings, before it has acquired too much strength to resist and overcome. 

Opinions of the Press. 

" We seldom take up a book of this class with any favorable impressions ; for 
we fear quackery and pretension have been at work for the ' poor man ;' but in 
this work all our prejudices were conquered. Professional men as well as others, 
we see cheerfully recommend this book ; which has, in its ample pages, much o' 
the necessary instruction to ward off or to cure disease." — New York Express. 

" It is written in an easy, plain, and familiar style, and points out the diseases 
of men, women, and children, and the latest and most approved means used in 
their cure. The language and arrangement are so simplified as to bring it within 
the capacity of those who possess a very limited education. The object and de- 
sign of the author seems to be to remove all that technical phraseology which is 
used in medical works generally, and thus simplify the practice of that science 
which the head of every family should be acquainted with. It is generally recom- 
mended to our professional readers as a guide in cases where it is not deemed 
necessary te have the services of regularly educated practitioners. This book 
should find a place in every family." — Boston Mail. 

" This is a work of Family Medicine on the plan of Dr. Ewell. It is the most 
olain-written, untechnical book of the kind we have met with ; a decided improve 
ment on both Buchan and Ewell. It is printed in a very superior style, revised 
from the first edition, and containing a variety of useful information not hitherto 
laid before the vulgar eye. It treats of the passions. It has also a catalogue of 
medicines, with their properties and doses, and the diseases and manner in which 
they are treated ; comprising a synoptical Materia Mediea, exceedingly useful in 
families, and m no particularly to captains of vessels and planters, who cannot 
conveniently procure medical advice. It is an excellent book." — New Orleans 
True American. 

" If we judge of the merits of the book by the immense number of copies already 
sold, and the very flattering testimony of medical men of the first standing, (and 
among the number, several of the most distinguished members of the faculty in 
our city,) it is a valuable compendium of the modern practice of physic, and must 
prove a valuable assistant to families, particularly in sudden emergencies, and in 
all situations where regular professionaj attendance cannot be commanded." — 
Louisville Journal. 

" The great advantage it possesses over all other books of the kind is, that the 
author has avoided all Latin terms ; this is what has brought Dr. Gunn's work 
intt such extensive family use." — New Orleans Picayune. 

" As a medical Vade Mecum, it has for years stood high ; and now, since its re- 
vision, (Raymond's copy,) will take the lead of all similar works." — Mobile Daily 
Advertiser. 

" Its extensive sale has established ,'ts worth, and stamped it as a standard and 
tseful book." — Kentucky Gazette. 

Kf On the receipt of Three Dollars, Dr. Gunn's book will be sent, free oj 
postage, to any part of the United States. 

All letters must be addressed, (post-paid,) to C. M. SAXT0N,121 FcltonSt 
New York. , ,_ u ,_ 

" Raymond's Copy " is the only complete edition and is so marked on uu>, back 






THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST; 

A MONTHLY PERIODICAL 

SerfgneU to fmptobe the Jfarmer, the planter, tfjc Stocfc*38rerti«, 
arrt> ti»e J&ortfculturfst. 

A. B. ALLEN, Editor. 

" Agriculture is the most healthy, the most useful, and the most nobU employmtnt 
of man." — Washington. 

TERMS. 

FOR SINGLE COPIES ONE DOLLAR PER ANNUM. 

THREE COPIES TWO DOLLARS. 

EIGHT COPIES FIVE DOLLARS. 

TWENTY COPIES TWELVE DOLLARS. 

The American Agriculturist is now in the seventh year of Hs publication- 
From its commencement it took a high stand ; and has ever since been considered 
by the press and all unbiased judges, as the LEADING PERIODICAL of its class 
in America. It has a large and rapidly increasing circulation throughout the 
United States, the Canadas, and other British possessions, the West Indies, and 
South America ; and we may fearlessly assert, that it has given more reliable in 
formation on rural subjects, and been perused with greater general satisfaction, 
than any paper of the kind yet published. 

The American Agriculturist treats of every description of domestic animals 
and poultry ; their characteristics, breeds, the best and the worst ; their advanta- 
ges and disadvantages ; their mode of breeding, feeding, rearing, and treatment; 
their uses, profits, management, &c. It also treats of all cultivated crops, inclu- 
ding fruits, shrubbery, &c. ; the best seeds, mode of planting, cultivating, gather- 
ing, and preparing for markets ; the general principles of vegetation and the laws 
of vegetable life. It describes the principles of mechanics as applied to machine- 
ry used by farmers and planters ; the best machinery and implements for agri- 
culture, their uses and the particular superiority of some over others, and their 
adaptedness for particular purposes, &c. 

Address all subscriptions to C. M. SAXTON, 123Pulton St., New York. 

It also gives the latest improvements in those implements which may have been 
made, and suggests others ; tells where they are to be found, and the benefits that 
will follow from their use. It also specifies new objects of cultivation, and how 
they may be better prepared for a profitable market and more general use. These 
are a part only of the objects of this paper ; yet they, with the other subjects 
treated, are of universal interest and general application. Nineteen-twentieths of all 
that is to be found in it is of the same use to one part as to any other part of 
America. Yet we find people constantly objecting that it is not printed in their 
particular section of country, and that it is not suited to their wants. Does it 
make any difference where a boy acquires his education, provided it be a good 
»ne and he be correctly taught ? Where he studies his profession of divinity, 
(aedicule, or even law 1 Cannot he take the principles he has acquired, and apply 
them equally well in any part of America? Are not the blessed sunlight ol 
heaven, the rain, the dew, the heat, and the frost, though sometimes differing in 
degree, of equal relative effect wherever they are felt, whether within the tropics 
or the polar circles, the eastern or western hemisphere ? 

If the question were as to a choice between a good paper printed here or there, 
it were another matter. But throughout extensive regions this is not the case, 
and it is either a good paper or none '•»! all ; and even if there were one for every 
particular section of country, we ro-°iit still urge a general circulaKon for om 
own ; for no one will embrace al\ that is important to be known. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER'S MANUAL 

BY T. B. MINER. 

350 pp. 12mo. 35 Eagravinqs. Price $1, 

PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTCN ST., N. Y. 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

" The most complete work on the Bee and Bee-keeping we have yet seen."— 
N. Y. Tribune. 

" Mr. Miner has handled this subject in a masterly manner." — N. Y. True Sun. 

" He has written a work of the most fascinating interest." — N. Y. Sunday Dis- 
patch. 

" It will interest the general reader. It is indeed a charming volume. — Com 
xnercial Advertiser. 

" This is a truly valuable work, and very interesting." — Morning Star. 

"It is decidedly the best work we have ever seen." — Boston Daily Mail. 

"Mr. Miner has performed his task with signal ability."— Scientific American. 

" It does high credit to the observation and intelligence of the author." — Chris- 
tian Intelligencer. 

" This isithe most comprehensive and valuable work on the Honey-bee that 
bos ever come under our notice." — Journal of Commerce. 

" To appreciate the value of the honey-bee one must get this book and read ii 
attentively." — Noah's Messenger. 

" We like it for its independent tone, and the amount of practical information 
(hat it contains." — Literary World. 

n We have been greatly edified and entertained by this bq^k. from which the 
reader will collect a great deal of excellent information. — The Independent. 

" This is probably the most complete manual of the kind ever published. It will 
richly repay the general reader, too, by the variety of interesting facts it com- 
tains." — Boston Traveller. 

" It is a most excellent and useful treatise, and happily supplies a vacuum 
that had long existed." — Boston Times. 

"This volume has all the charm of a romance end admirably displays the 
fiabits of this insect." — O r gan. 

" This volume is what it pretends to be, (more than can be said of many wo rk«) 
and all who want a full and thorough history of the nature and management ol 
of the bee should have it in their possession." — Scientific American. 

" It is neatly printed, well illustrated and clearly written and contains a great 
ileal of practical information."— Mirror. 

" This work probably contains better instructions in regard to bees than any 
which have ever appeared." — Sun. 

" The practical directions are the result of evident experience, and being 
4>Uu&ly and oo-j wisely stated, are excellent. It is 60 much better than can be 
»btained elsowbire that we commend it to favor." — N. if. Evangelist. 

'• It is an «yr client book and the best published o; tie subject. "—Boston Oiivs 
Branch. 



\ 






TIIK 



AMERICAN ARCHITECT, 

loinplete in 24 Nos,, at 25 cents each, or $5 for 24 
Nos, $6, bound in 2 vols. 

PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON, NEW-YORK. 



The object of this publication is to introduce ORIGINAL DESIGNS of Country 
Seats adapted to the varied taste and circumstances of an American population : 
from the elegant Villa to the simple Cottage and plain Farm-House ; from 
Planters' Mansions to Village Domicils. In a word, every variety of Rural 
Residences will be embraced, in order to meet the views of every person desiring 
a Country House. In respect to style, cost, arrangement, finish, &c, utility 
will never be sacrificed : economy in the outlay, with an appropriate style, wil 
always be kept in view. The requisite details, specifications, plans, and direc 
tions, with a careful and reliable estimate of the cost, will accompany each design 
These are essential features of a Practical Work, and no labor will be spared in 
their preparation. 

Of the diversity of human dwellings, whether marked by elegance, convenience, 
or utility, or by the want of them, none can compare in national importance and 
philosophical interest with the Farm-House — the Homestead of our species. 

A triple value attaches to that class of men which feeds all others. With pri- 
meval farmers, man's social faculties were first unfolded. With them society 
began : and among whatever people its shaft has become polished and its capital 
enriched, it still rests on the cultivators of the soil. So, of their profession, agri- 
culture is the great parent of the arts, while its prepared products will forever 
oe the most essential of all manufactures. Then it was in their dwellings that 
Architecture itself had its birth ; it was they who first abandoned the tent with 
pastoral life, and began to devise and construct fixed and permanent abodes. 

The estimates we give are based on New York prices ; including the best ma- 
Serials, workmanship, and finish. There is no doubt that in many parts of the 
country, they may be materially diminished in every one of these respects — eves 
to the extent of one-half. 

The selection of designs by those about to build Country Residences is com 
monly attended with embarrassment and always with expense When furnished 
.?y professional men, from general ideas communicated by proprietors, they are 
seldom satisfactory. The American Architect, by furnishing a collection of designs 
adapted to all tastes and means, will remove every difficulty in the choice, and 
save money expended on Plans of no use. It will furnish twelve Elevations, 
Plans, and Specifications in each year, at a price not exceeding one-seventh ol 
the usual charge for one. 

Every handsome residence adds value to the grounds attached to it ; hence the 
importance of having such, by those who invest capital in this species of property. 

With regard to utility — the proper distribution of the apartments and their 
adaptation to the purposes intended is the most important point to be attended 
to, and they are governed by the Plans. 

From among the great number of notices, we select the following : — 

" The price is only 25 cents for each number, and it is surely next to impossible 
but that such a periodical will obtain a wide circulation." — New York Tribune. 

" This work promises to supply a want which has long existed, and to be ol 
essential value." — Salem Register. 

" This work cannot fail to be useful and popular." — hceton Bee. 

" This is a good and beautiful work, and well adapted to effect a much desired 
reform in American Architecture." — Boston Traveller. 

Tfoi Cost of building from the Plans given, will be from $600 to $5,000, with 
comp «te Specifications from a first-rate Mason and Carpenter, and the price* 
given 'an be depended upon. 



THE AMERICAN FARM BOOK: 

OR, 

Compend of American Agriculture, 

^Containing a concise and plainly written Exposition of Duties pertaining to tii« 
Cultivation of the Earth, thp Management of the Farm, &c. &c, on prac- 
tical scientific principles. 

3YR.L, ALLEN. 

"^he cheapest and most valuable book for a farmer ever printed : being a com 
plete Guide, both practical and scientific, for the 

MANAGEMENT OF THE FARM. 

Besides the varied practical knowledge which this book imparts, and which is 
indispensable to the proper management of every department of agriculture, H 
fives the elements of other information highly necessary to a successful farmer, 
js History, Geology, Chemistry, Botany, Anatomy, Physiology, and Mechanics. 
These branches of knowledge are given as applicable to agricultural pursuits 
and when properly understood will essentially aid and assist the fdrmer. In fact 
■t knowledge of these sciences is a sure key to wealth for any agriculturist. I 
»ives the mode of preparation, and the effects of all kinds of manures ; the 
irigin, texture, divisions, and description of every variety of soils ; the economy 
»f sowing, reaping, and mowing, irrigation and draining ; cultivation of the 
grasses, clovers, grains, and roots ; Southern and miscellaneous products, as cot- 
Fon, hemp, flax, the sugar cane, rice, tobacco, hops, madder, woad, &c. ; the 
rearing of fruit — apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, &c. ; farm buildings, 
ledges. &.c. ; with the best methods of planting, cultivating, and preparation 
for market. Illustrated by 100 engravings. 
The reader can form some idea of the above work, from the fact that it treats 
' 800 different subjects important to a farmer. It contains 354 pages, and is 
beautifully bound in cloth, gilt, suitable for a library. Price only One Dollar. 
Notices of the Press. 
The author has been one of the most able contributors to the agricultural pres? 
or the last ten years ; aside from this he is a practical farmer and stock-breeder, 
and consequently knows from his own experience what he is writing about. • 
Commercial Advertiser. 
This book is by a gentleman of known experience ; the work is exceedingly 
iioap, and the farmer will find it a valuable book of reference. — N. Y. Express. 
It is in fact a brief encyclopedia on the subjects treated, and the farmer will 
fin«l appropriate information on almost any subject coming within his reach. — 
New York Observer. 

Here is a book for the million, precisely what its title indicates. Compassed 
ivithin its pages, the reader will find the subject of soils, manures, crops, and 
animals, treated in a style easily comprehended. — Spirit of the Times. 

This work is what might be expected from one so well qualified for the undei- 
taking. — Boston Cultivator. 

We are glad to meet a publication which can interest, as well as improve the 
condition of the human race. We commend the work to every American farmer. 
— Christian Intelligencer. 

Why shall not every good farmer economize his muscles by storing his mind ? 
We hope this book will find its way into many family and school-libraries. — New 
York Tribune. 
It wight to be found in every farmer's library.— Jerseyman. 
It is really a great satisfaction to get hold of an American treatise on Agricul- 
ture, that has a plain, practical, common sense character of its own. The author 
of this work is already known to the agricultural public as a thorough practical 
farmer and stock-breeder. That he well knows what he is about on a farm, these 
pages abundanty show. No mere book-maker could have written such a book ; 
and we may add, also, that no mere practical farmer could have written it. A 
" good practical work" can only be written liy a man who has both thought and 
acted well. What distinguishes this volume, is its conciseness, its clearness, and 
its perspicuous treatment of the subject in hand. We think, therefore, that Mr 
Alien's volume, the basis of which is gosd practical farming, as practised by th 
best cultivators in the United States, with an intelligent reference to those princi 
pies of science which lie at the root of all successful practice, is likely to be of as 
much or more real service to us, than any work on agriculture vet issued from 
the press, and we gladly commend it to the perusal of every one oi our readrr* 
tngage i in the cult'.va.ion of land — A. J. Downing's Horticulturist 



Et/EBY FARMERS BOOKS! 

Ten ThensHud Curies prsntt'd in six Months? 



IMESTIC MILS. 



Being a history and description of llie Horse, Mule, Cattle, Slicep, Swine, Poul- 
try, and Farm Dogs ; with Directions for their Mai.agement, P.reeding, Crossing, Rear 
ing, Feeding, and preparation for a profitable market. Also, tltelr Diseases anc 
Remedies ; together with Full Directions for the Management of the Dairy, snd the Com- 
parative Economy and Advantages of Working Animals, the Horse, Mule, Oxen, &c, bv R. L«. 
ALiLitilV, Author of' 1 Compend of American Agriculture," ij-c. 

The above work contains more than 40 Engravings and Portraits of Improved Animal* 
Illustrative of the different breeds and various subjects treated in it. 

The most minute as well as general principles for Breeding, Crossing, Rearing, Feeding, and 
Management of all Domestic Animals, are herein given to produce the utmost marketable 
value for the food and attention bestowed on them ; a< well as hi prevent disease, and save the 
immense losses which annually occur from this source. It can be sent by Mail, in I loth Bind- 
ing, for 75 Cents— Paper, 50 Cents. Published by C. M. SAXTON, 123 Fulton st. V^ 
York. For sale by all the Booksellers throughout the country. 

Agents wanted for every county in every state. Address, post paid, the Publisher. 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS, 

The Compactness yet ocmpleteness will make it a favorite with agriculturists. — Chronicle, 
Philadelphia. 

Its greatest worth is, as a complete farrier, showing the diseases of animals, their treatment, 
and cure. — Far. 4" Mec. 

The portion which relates to the dairy alone, is worth the cost of the book. — Worcester 
Transcript. 

It is every way adapted to be serviceable in every household which has domestic animals. — 
I) Adv., Newark. 

We believe it a complete guide for the farmer and dairyman in the purchase, care, and use ol 
animals. — Jeffersonian. 

Here is a work which should be in the hands of every farmer. — Highland Courier. 

We can confidently recommend this work as a very instructive one to those engaged in farm 
Ing, raising stock, or husbandry. — Northampton Courier. 

The author is a practical farmer and stockbreeder, and is able to vouch for the correctness of 
the remedies for diseases of Domestic Animals, as well as the best mode of managing them. — 
Huron, O. Reflector. 

It costs but seventy-five cents, and cannot fail to be worth ten times that amount to any far 
oier. — Summit S. C. Beacon. 

It is the best of that character we have yet seen ; no farmer should be without it. — Democrat, 
Carlisle, Pa. 

This is just such a book as every owner of stock should be possessed of. — Easton Md Star. 

Here is a book which all — those who follew the plow, and those >vho direct it — can read to 
profit. It is a library of knowledge, presenting the latest improvements and discoveries, on all 
the topics treated of; and illustrated by a great variety of cuts. The " Aliens," one of whom is 
the author of the work before us, are quite famous in their especial role, so that what proceeds 
from them may be confidently credited at all events. The present book is a most interesting and 
instructive one, and must meet with a great sale. — Sciota Gazette- 

This work, to the farmer and stock raiser, will be useful, instructive, and profitable, enabling 
them to improve the breed of their stock, preserve them from sickness, and owe them when 
infected with disease. — Herald, Morrisville, Pa. 

The time has gone by when farmers can expect to succeed without giving some attention to 
Book Farming, and we trust they begin to see it for themselves. We should like to hear that 
this work was in the hands of every farmer in the county. — Mercury, Potsdam, N. Y. 

The title page of this work gives a good idea of its scope and intcut. It is a comprehensive 
summary of farm operations, and will prove very acceptable to the great mass of our farming 
population. We are informed that 3,000 copies of this work have been sold since the first of 
January. It is well printed and profusely illustrated — N. Y. Tribune. 

It is furnished with numerous illustrating cuts, and will form a complete "vade mecum" for 
the agriculturist, convenient for reference, and to be relied on when consulted. — Baltimore 
American. 

This is a practical book by a practical man, and will serve extensive practical ends. It if 
a companion which every farmer will feei that he cannot well be without. — N. Y. Observer 

We cheerfully recommend this work to farmers. — Signal, Juliett, Hi. 

We anticipate an extensive sale for this work. — Ohio Cultivator. 

This work ought to be in the hands of every planter. — N. O. Delta. 

The author is a gentleman of fine attainments, and who ranks as one of the most accom- 
plished writers on agricultural subjects in the country. — Ala. Planter. > 

Many a valuable animal is lost, every year, for want of the knowledge here conveyed.— Eagle. 
Brettlleboro, Vt. 

The author (Mr. Allen), is a practical man, and everything from his pen, on subjects con 
cected with agr.culture and cattle breeding, <s valuable to those who prefer matter of fact to 
><?r'. theory Main' Furxter 



AN 



ESSAY ON MANURES 



SUBMITTED TO THE TRUSTEES OF 



THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



PROMOTING AGRICULTURE, 

FOB THEIR PREMIUM. 

BY SAMUEL L. DANA. 




From the New York Observer: 

Essay on Manures. By Samuel L. Dana 

This Essay contains much useful information for the practical farmer, in a 
Bmall compass, in reference to the nature and management of manures imme- 
diately under his control ; the knowledge and practice of which will amply com- 
pensate for the expense of ascertaining its value. 



NEW YORK: 
C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET. 

ALSO, STRINGER & TOWNSEND, H. LONG & BROTHER, W. F. BUE- 

GESS, DEWITT dp DAVENPORT, WILSON A CO., DEXTER A 

BROTHER. BOSTON : REDDING & CO. PHILADELPHIA: 

W. B. ZIEBER, LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 



ISBO. 



THE 

FAMILY KITCHEN GARDENER 

CONTAINING 

PLAIN AND ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS 

OF ALL THE 

DIFFERENT SPECIES AND VARIETIES 

OF 

CULINARY VEGETABLES: 




BY ROBERT BUIST, 

AUTHOR OF TOE AMERICAN FLOWER-OARDEN DIRECTORY, ROSB MANUAL, ETC. 



NEW YORK: 
C. M. SAXTON, 12o FULTON STREET, 

ALSO, STRINGER A TOWNSEND, H. LONG A BROTHER, W. F. BUR- 
GESS, DEWITT 4 DAVENPORT, WILSON A CO., DEXTER * 
BROTHER. BOSTON : REDDING A CO. PHILADELPHIA ! 
W. B. ZIEBER, LINDSAY A BLAKISTON. 



1350 



THE 

AMERICAN BIRD FANCIER; 

CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE 

BREEDING, REARING, FEEDING, MANAGEMENT, AND PECULIARITIES 

OF 

CAGE AND HOUSE BIRDS. 

Illustrated with Engravings 




BY D. J. BROWNE, 

AUTHOR OF THE SVLVA AMERICANA, THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD, ETC. 



NEW YORK: 
C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET. 

ALSO, STRINGER <fe TOWNSEND, II. LONG & BROTHER, W. F. BURGESS, 

DEWITT & DAVENPORT, WILSON A- CO., DEXTER .fe BROTHER. 

PHILADELPHIA : W. B. ZIEBER, LINDSAY <k BLAKISTON. 

BOSTON: REDDING & CO. 

1850. 



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